Govt talking to 25 large corporates in bid to resolve problems, boost investment

NEW DELHI: The government has begun consultations with the country’s top 25 corporate houses and lenders, including the Tatas, Reliance, Birla, Mahindra, Adanis, Infosys and Wipro, to assess their investment plan and also try and resolve issues that they may be facing in their bid to expand operations.

The initiative undertaken by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal as part of the Project Management Cell (PMC) has already seen consultations with companies such as Maruti Suzuki and Hindustan Unilever, which have flagged areas of concern for their operations and expansion, which are now being shared with other ministries as well as state governments, sources told TOI.

HUL, for instance, has pointed to misuse of intellectual property rights and the regulatory regime for using plastics that varies across states, creating problems. Similarly, Maruti Suzuki brass has pointed to issues related to financing of vehicles.

The consultations began a few weeks ago and come at a time when the government is trying to boost investment and spur economic activity. While capacity constraints are often cited as the reason for companies holding back investments, officials said, in a number of cases investments that have already been announced have not taken off due to delays in clearances. Just declogging some of the investments could result in a significant flow of funds.

The government is hoping that decision to lower the corporation tax will encourage many companies to invest, especially as new manufacturing entities have been permitted to pay just 15% tax in case they begin operations in a little over three years from now.

“We are trying to ascertain the issues that are being faced at various levels which could be anything related to the regulatory environment, licences, or simple funding-related aspects and trying to connect them with the authorities,” said an officer.

Apart from this, business houses are being asked to share their investment plan for five years along with short-term expansion plans.

In the coming weeks, Goyal is slated to meet Vedanta Group’s Anil Agarwal, Bharti Group’s Sunil Mittal, JSW’s Sajjan Jindal, Sun Pharma’s Dilip Sanghvi, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, ICICI Bank’s Sandeep Bakshi, banker Uday Kotak, Bajaj group representatives, the Shapoorji Pallonji group and L&T’s S N Subrahmanyan.

Further, some interactions with industry groups such as retail, aviation, textiles, roads and railways are also planned. Separate consultations with the country’s top lawyers to get a feedback on issues faced by their clients is also planned.