 "The government needs to undertake 'Disruptive Innovation'")
In May 2014, the world witnessed the biggest elections ever. Not only the citizens of India were anxious, but the whole world too wanted to know the fate of 1/6th of world’s population. The poll results were as anticipated in favour of Narendra Modi. He executed a well-crafted election campaign against the Congress Party and India's most famous political dynasty, the Gandhi family in a manner that they not only lost the election but even their status as opposition party in parliament became dubious.
These elections were about ‘Hope’. Hope of the so called ‘aam aadmi’ for a better living standard and a corrupt free India. Hope of industrialists for a better business environment. Hope of the young and aspiring Indians for jobs. Even before the government was formed the expectations of the citizens of this country was very high and it has been continuously rising since the formation of new government. Have we found a messiah called Narendra Modi? Only time shall tell. We live on hope, and this time around it is hope of a billion plus people.
To fulfill the aspirations of Indians and to be able to compete with other developing countries, the new government has to take a holistic approach ranging from robust education structure, effective employment schemes, infrastructure boost, continual power supply, proper sanitation and so on. This is just the tip of the ice-berg. If we aim at coming first in the race of developing nations, world-wide then we need to bring changes in the age-old policies and laws too. Laws like archaic labour needs revision. There should be increase in the minimum wages in expensive cities, but reduction in the red tape. The people need relief too. Income tax exemption limits ought to be raised. The present service class is bleeding when the large corporates evade taxes.
Wide variety of taxes has made the life of corporates difficult. More time is lost on understanding taxes and complying with it than actually working on growing the business that will increase employment and work towards improving the livelihood of people. It is time the ball is set rolling for GST. UPA I and II did not present the opportunity to the states. Service tax and excise duty can be merged as the first phase. Reduce the CST to 1 % from 2% and abolish it the following year. The states can be compensated; historically it is known that lower taxes lead to larger compliance thereby negating the reduced tax rates.
Every large corporate has today setup a ‘Disruptive Innovation’ division. The government needs to do just that. Policy reforms have to be disruptive. The indications of phasing out the Planning Commission are steps in the right direction, if undertaken. It is a white elephant.
The problems that we are facing were once faced by developed nations too! We need to redirect our strengths to overcome our weakness. We need to bring solutions onto the table. One hope to feed this young population is revival of manufacturing. Revival? Did we have a manufacturing revolution like the agricultural revolution or the service industry revolution? Perhaps no. India missed that. The new government has to make that happen. This is the only way to address the stuttering and stammering economy, as ours.
These elections were about ‘Hope’. Hope of the so called ‘aam aadmi’ for a better living standard and a corrupt free India. Hope of industrialists for a better business environment. Hope of the young and aspiring Indians for jobs. Even before the government was formed the expectations of the citizens of this country was very high and it has been continuously rising since the formation of new government. Have we found a messiah called Narendra Modi? Only time shall tell. We live on hope, and this time around it is hope of a billion plus people.
To fulfill the aspirations of Indians and to be able to compete with other developing countries, the new government has to take a holistic approach ranging from robust education structure, effective employment schemes, infrastructure boost, continual power supply, proper sanitation and so on. This is just the tip of the ice-berg. If we aim at coming first in the race of developing nations, world-wide then we need to bring changes in the age-old policies and laws too. Laws like archaic labour needs revision. There should be increase in the minimum wages in expensive cities, but reduction in the red tape. The people need relief too. Income tax exemption limits ought to be raised. The present service class is bleeding when the large corporates evade taxes.
Wide variety of taxes has made the life of corporates difficult. More time is lost on understanding taxes and complying with it than actually working on growing the business that will increase employment and work towards improving the livelihood of people. It is time the ball is set rolling for GST. UPA I and II did not present the opportunity to the states. Service tax and excise duty can be merged as the first phase. Reduce the CST to 1 % from 2% and abolish it the following year. The states can be compensated; historically it is known that lower taxes lead to larger compliance thereby negating the reduced tax rates.
Every large corporate has today setup a ‘Disruptive Innovation’ division. The government needs to do just that. Policy reforms have to be disruptive. The indications of phasing out the Planning Commission are steps in the right direction, if undertaken. It is a white elephant.
The problems that we are facing were once faced by developed nations too! We need to redirect our strengths to overcome our weakness. We need to bring solutions onto the table. One hope to feed this young population is revival of manufacturing. Revival? Did we have a manufacturing revolution like the agricultural revolution or the service industry revolution? Perhaps no. India missed that. The new government has to make that happen. This is the only way to address the stuttering and stammering economy, as ours.
Thus far, Indian industry has grown ‘inspite of’ and ‘despite of’ it’s governments. It is time; we grow because of the government. If that happens, India will no doubt emerge as the winner.
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Samit Jain is the Director of Pluss Polymers Pvt Ltd
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Samit Jain is the Director of Pluss Polymers Pvt Ltd