Only 16% of the country’s railway networks handle 60% of the traffic in the country, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said and added that doubling up of existing lines was their focus. The Ministry was also implementing these works by speeding up the tendering process, he added.
The Minister was speaking on Saturday at the CII’s (Confederation of Indian Industry) Annual Regional Meeting on ‘Economic Disruption’. The Minister who called the demonetization as the biggest disruption by Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Railways was now looking at joint ventures with the State governments.
He said that India has the lowest tax to GDP ratio and forecast that the corporate and indirect taxes might come down with increase in government revenues in the aftermath of demonetization.
Skill training
The Minister felt that state governments should aim for 10% growth so that the country’s GDP also averages more than 10%. He requested the CII members to impart localised skill training in every district for development of the areas and also to address migration issues.
CII president designate Shobhana Kamineni said that in 14 quarters, India had not added new capacities and it was time to take risk and invest in disruptions.
Investment in R&D
President of the CII Naushad Forbes said that Research and Developments (R&D) investments have to grow in technology, higher education and pharmacy as we lagged behind when compared to global average. Mr. Forbes informed that the top 10 software companies in India were investing only 1% of the turnover in R&D whereas top Chinese companies were investing around 8%. The speakers felt that substantially scaling up investments in R&D can ensure that the future of the country is secure.
The day-long conference included a number of sessions on the theme and was attended by the industry leaders from various sectors.
