India Inc. bats for employment-linked initiatives akin to PLI

CII President R Dinesh suggested that the government come up with employment-linked incentive schemes, in line with the Production Linked incentive (PLI) schemes which the government has launched for several sectors.

Dinesh said the employment link incentive scheme will not only create jobs but also help sectors like tourism, healthcare, hospitality and logistics to grow.

“Suggestion which we are giving is for an employment-linked incentive plan, like the PLI had been introduced, especially to support certain sectors which are high employment generators like tourism, healthcare, hospitality, and logistics,” said the CII President.

In the election season CII president says India’s manifesto should be big ticket reforms for inclusive growth. India needs big-ticket reforms broadly in four broad sectors: labour reforms, agricultural reforms, reforms for MSMEs and reforms in the fintech sector. For agriculture and labour reforms broad consensus is needed among centre and state. A GST council type body should be made to reach a consensus among centre and state for crucial reforms in agriculture and labour sector. The body can also ensure proper and timely implementation on these reforms.

Speaking about MSMEs, Dinesh says, “We have MSMEs today, to get them better access to the formal economy and funding from banks and from fintechs, what is needed is that the ECLGS (Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme) scheme which the government had announced can be institutionalized as a support for them. And to make that happen, that needs to be done with a rating agency tie-up, which can help make the rating suitable for MSMEs so that they can get access to banks and fintech players.

MSMEs main challenge is to get funding for the transition to sustainability and green energy, that needs support and a fund should be created for the purpose.

Dinesh also asked to increase government spends on health and education. Expenditure on health and education should be increased to 3 and 6 per cent of GDP respectively in a phased manner.

Talking about Indian markets being at all-time high, the CII President says stock markets reflect the strength of the economy. He said “SEBI chairperson in an event very recently, when she was talking about saying, the valuations are dependent on the growth of the country, so it is important to look at the growth of the country, so far to make that happen.”

Dinesh says continuity of policies and growth is important for India’s economy. India’s economy is projected to touch USD 5 trillion by 2027 and by 2030 it will be a USD 7 trillion economy. India has great opportunity for an inclusive growth and we have to grow between 8 and 9 per cent to reach the targeted bench marks.

Speaking about Tesla CEO’s India visit, Dinesh says, “If Tesla comes, it will add even more excitement to the sector. This is very good news for us. It speaks about the focus on the mobility and the focus on the Electric Vehicles which is happening here. It presents even more opportunities for us to grow,”

“EVs are already present in India and Indian manufacturers are doing well. We have people committing to invest whether it be two-wheeler, four wheeler or trucks, and all of them are looking at growth in this segment. Therefore, as CII we welcome many investments which are looking at from that space.”

On fresh round of threat notifications by Apple, CII President said “cybersecurity has become very important for industry for businesses and for a future of growth of the industry. So every player or every company is actually looking at how to protect themselves from cyber security point of view… that’s something which every company is investing today to build the security to prevent such actions from happening.”

India is leader in creating the digital infrastructure not only for domestic usages but also for the global needs. It will have to become a leader in cyber security as well. ANI