Why do we have so many regulators, CEOs ask Arun Jaitley

PM Modi to meet top CEOs today; jobs, governance to be discussed

Young CEOs on Monday expressed concern at the multiplicity of regulators and quizzed the government over evaluation of their performance.  

"Why do we have so many regulators? Who evaluates their performance?" they asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the first day of a two-day CEOs conference under the ‘Champions of Change’ programme being organised by the NITI Aayog. The CEOs will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. 

Responding to the query, Jaitley said regulators are needed. "But, where the work is inadequate is that three or four bodies do the work of one regulator," he said, according to one of the tweets by the NITI Aayog.

Earlier, the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) had recommended subsuming all the financial sector regulators — Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority — into one Unified Financial Agency, besides the Reserve Bank of India.

Six groups totalling 200 CEOs, mostly aged below 50, had come together on Monday to work on one project — to help the PM transform India. The CEOs included names such as Rajiv Bajaj, MD of Bajaj Auto; Vinod Dasari, MD of Ashok Leyland; Pranav Adani of Adani Wilmar; Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar.com; Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, founder of Bandhan Bank; Palash Roy Chowdhury, MD India of Pratt and Whitney; and Nikhil Nanda, MD of Escorts; among others.

On Monday, the CEOs deliberated on six themes — New India By 2022, Doubling Farmer's Incomes, Creating Cities Of Tomorrow, Taking Forward Make In India, Reforming Financial Sector, Building World-Class Infrastructure. 

Interacting with them, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya said India's big focus was on creating good jobs. "The private sector has to deliver to create well-paid, high-productivity jobs," he said. 

The groups will make 10-minute presentations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. Modi will address the CEOs on his vision and how he wants the engagements to be taken forward. Ahead of the structured interaction, the PM met the CEOs for dinner on Monday. 

The PM had held a similar meeting with 212 young entrepreneurs last week, as part of the Champions of Change programme. 

All the presentations, officials said, would have a common thread of employment, income, innovations, ease of doing business and governance. The outcome of the deliberations would be implemented in the form of notification changes, policy alterations and discussion with states to make amendment in the rules from their end, with the NITI Aayog spearheading changes.

“The CEOs will be holding discussions with secretaries from the ministries of finance, rural development, agriculture, expenditure, etc., to understand the government’s perspective on various issues and also how the bottlenecks could be removed,” a senior official said. The official said that there were over 200 backward districts in the country that were holding India back, and a partnership between the government and the private sector, through their CEOs, was critical.

Last week, Modi in his address to the start-ups had directed ministries and departments to work out a mechanism through which the informal group of start-ups could be formally attached to their corresponding ministries and departments. This, Modi said, would ensure the suggestions and advice that the entrepreneurs have can be incorporated into government policy in a formal manner. “Our current team in the Central government is keen to learn new things, which is the reason why I’m asking you all to join permanently with the government,” Modi had told start-up heads last week.