 "India Inc sees coalition government at the centre in 2014")
"It will be a coalition government," CII President Kris Gopalakrishnan told PTI when asked whether the next union government will be single party-led or a coalition.
On the industry's preference, for a single party-led or a coalition government, he said: "Industry prefers stability. A coalition can give stability, we have seen that."
More From This Section
Explaining his point, Gopalakrishnan said in the last 20 years there have been three coalition governments and the growth rate has been in the range of 8-8.5% barring the last two years.
"It is very clear... There I'm hopeful (on stability). We have had three five-year terms now with coalition governments at the centre... Today, I think there is an acceptance that we do not want elections kind of every year because it is very difficult and unpredictable and expensive. I feel that we will see some stability after the elections," he said.
Gopalakrishnan added: "If we go back 20 years, we have had three coalition governments. NDA, UPA and Third Front. We have had average growth of 8-8.5%."
In general, no political party is against development, he added.
"In our discussions, none of the major political parties is opposed to growth. None of the major political parties is even opposed to FDI. On specifics, however there might be some differences.
"May be in implementation. So there are no major differences on economic growth. At CII we are hopeful, if we can get beyond the uncertainty of elections we should see growth come back," Gopalakrishnan, who is also the Executive Vice Chairman for IT services major Infosys, said.
Kris, as he is fondly called, however, felt that with elections to the state and Lok Sabha close, decision-making could be affected.
"It is a concern," he said when asked that with elections for some states and Lok Sabha around the corner, will there be a shift to politics leading to delay in decision-making.