The Prime Minister’s Office has sought industry recommendations on reviving and sustaining the growth momentum in the core sectors of manufacturing and infrastructure, ahead of the Budget, industry officials said..
The exercise is separate from the pre-Budget consultations that the Finance Ministry held with the chiefs of industry chambers like CII, FICCI and Assocham, CEOs and chairmen of large industrial conglomerates and IT industry representatives over January 6 and 7. Industry had urged finance minister Arun Jaitley to spur domestic demand in the Budget in order to revive private sector investments.
“The Prime Minister’s Office has asked us for some papers on certain topics like construction, infrastructure… things that are a matter of concern for the economy right now,” Sumit Mazumder, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry or CII told The Hindu.
The PMO often seeks inputs from industry bodies for ideas to sustain the reforms process in specific sectors and assess policy issues beyond the short-term imperatives which can be addressed in the Budget, another official in the know-how said.
Though industrial output has grown at 3.9 per cent from April to November 2015, compared to 2.5 per cent over the same period in 2014, it remains volatile. After surging 9.8 per cent in October last year, the index of industrial production fell by 3.2 per cent in November — its worst performance since October 2011.
The performance of eight core sectors in November was also worrying, with their output shrinking 1.3 per cent, the worst in a decade. Manufacturing, after steadily inching up over the past year, also fell 4.4 per cent in November.
“We will see a revival, but the lag from all the legacy problems continues.
That is why you don’t see continuous growth in industrial output,” Mr. Mazumder said.
The PMO has also asked for information about inverted duty structures that impact manufacturing activity across sectors, he said.
