Quality infrastructural adequacy needed to attract investment: Pranab Mukherjee

Ease of doing business will attract investors, creation of efficient infrastructure and industrial corridors will lead to improve the standard of living

Indian president, Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the industry and the academia need to work hand-in-hand to create the necessary capabilities and infrastructure in the country which will not only attract investment in the country but will also help India reap dividends from its population.

According to the president, if India wants to achieve praise in the international society across different facades which also include economic growth, the country needs to have a knowledge society where the industry and academia needs to collaborate closely.

However, speaking over the several ongoing reforms in the country he opined that India needs to have sufficient quality infrastructural adequacy including manpower to attract investments which will boost the growth the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"Not merely policy formulation and conducive policy prescriptions aren't adequate to attract investment unless there is infrastructural adequacy and that must be of quality", Mukherjee said at a CII event.

He said over the next two years, considering the growth momentum in industry and manufacturing sectors under a prudent fiscal management climate, India's GDP will grow around 7.5 per cent.

"It is expected in the next two calendar years, our GDP growth will be around 7.5 per cent. And this we have been able to achieve with the calibrated fiscal management as we have seen our current account deficit has reduced to 1.1 per cent of GDP from 1.3 per cent of GDP", the president said.

The industrial sector, according to the first citizen of India, has registered a growth of 7.3 per cent while the growth in the manufacturing segment has been in around 9.4 per cent.

The president highlighted three key areas which needs to be focused upon for economic prosperity.

Ease of doing business will be a prerequisite to attract investors as well as creation of efficient infrastructure (both tangible and intangible) and industrial corridors which will lead to regional growth and in turn translate into increase in GDP the standards of living.

Industrial corridors, as per Mukherjee, are needed for India to realise its target of having 25 per cent contribution to the GDP from the manufacturing sector by the year 2022.

This sector presently accounts for 15 per cent of the total GDP.

The third key area of focus for the economy needs to be on attracting more foreign direct investment. It is here that the government needs to focus on capability building apart from framing adequate policy.

By the year 2020, more than 50 per cent of the county's population is expected to be below 25 years of age.

Harping on the need to skill up the population to absorb the incoming growth, Mukherjee said, "We must emphasise on improving skills and educational standard of the workforce. Unless it happens, the dividend (younger populace) may become a liability".