Adi Godrej, former president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has said that the depreciation of the rupee will not have a long-term fall-out on the economy. ``It is a temporary phenomenon,’’ he said in an interview to The Hindu .
“The rupee going at 65 is ridiculous. But it doesn’t mean a collapse of the system. I am glad that the Reserve Bank of India has intervened. There should be more interventions . If we do that, and with the good monsoon, the economy will return to 8 per cent growth in the not-too-distant future,” he said. To a question, he said, ``the rupee at 55-57 is understandable; but not 65. Once you allow speculators to take hold, it is a never ending story. It is a vicious circle.’’ He said the country had enough foreign exchange reserves. ``Some people think the fall of the rupee is the collapse of the economy. It is not correct,” he added. “Had we implemented the goods and services tax regime, we could have been in a better position. But the good news is that monsoon is good. Agricultural output will go up. In the long-term, I am very bullish (about the economy),” said
On environmental issues coming in the way of industrial development, Mr. Godrej, who is the chairman of India @75 Foundation, an initiative targeting comprehensive development of the country, said science and technology should be allowed to play a greater role. “Environmental issues are very important to India; but these issues shouldn’t be emphasised at the cost of development. We should bring in science and technology to handle environment issues,” he pointed out.
“Take the case of coal. India has the biggest coal reserves, but we are an importer of coal. We say it is an environmental issue. Not at all. We have very good technology. We should privatise the coal sector, allow people to come in, and insist on green technology. All our iron ore exports are stopped for the wrong reasons. So, all I’m saying is to rectify if some problems have come in,’’ he said.
