Government-Industry trust is critical to leverage opportunities created by the pandemic, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. She added that this trust is also reflected in government’s actions. The Union Minister met industry captains in Tamil Nadu at two different events – one organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the other by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
At the CII event, she reiterated that the disinvestment plan was on track. She also said the Development Finance Institution announced in the budget would be operational soon. She pointed out that liquidity was no longer a major concern and that the Bank-NBFC-MFI channel had been de-clogged. From October 15 there would be a special drive to reach out credit to those who needed it.
Industry captains from corporate houses, across multiple sectors including the Hinduja Group, Murugappa, TVS, Rane, CavinKare, Daimler India Commercial Vehicle, Apollo Hospitals, 3M India, Saint Gobain India, Tractors and Farm Equipment, Chettinad Group participated and gave their views and suggestion to the Minister at the event.
At the FICCI event, she mentioned about the increase in allocation to infrastructure and specifically for the health infrastructure to successfully tide over the pandemic crisis and also briefly mentioned about the special announcements made by the government for the travel and tourism industry.
N. Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director, India Cements Ltd. mentioned that after China, India was the largest manufacturer of cements and South India alone produced nearly half of the cement manufactured in the country. There was a need to take it to other parts of the country due to the huge amount of infrastructural projects that would be coming up in the years to come. He also highlighted the unprecedented rise in the cost of coal that was imported.
GSK Velu, chairman of FICCI Tamil Nadu and CMD of Trivitron/Neuberg group of companies, said, “She wanted each segment to send specific recommendations to her office. The Finance Minister listened to 12 specific industries’ progress and demands and also gave her response to each of them.”
R.G. Chandramogan, managing director, Hatsun Agro Products, spoke about the critical issues in the animal husbandry sector and mentioned about the contributions of the private sector compared to cooperatives and said the cost reductions had not been addressed by the cooperatives.
Irshad Mecca, convenor, FICCI Tamil Nadu EXIM Panel and managing director of Farida Group, mentioned that since the leather industry had many MSME players, there was a need to extend the interest rate subvention scheme beyond September 30, 2021.
