Bajaj Industries Chairman Rahul Bajaj today said the government should change the archaic land acquisition rules in India to deal with contentious issues like Singur.
"The land acquisition rules in India are based on old British era laws and this has led to many controversies during land acquisition for industrialisation, whether at Singur or at the Posco land acquisition deal in Orissa," Bajaj told reporters on the sidelines of the 48th SIAM Annual Convention 2008 here.
"So the government should take initiatives to make land acquisition rules more contemporary," he added.
On being asked about the Singur controversy, Bajaj said, "I think production of the Nano car won't be delayed beyond October. Tata Group has got alternatives for making the car at its facilities in Pune or some place in Uttarakhand," he said.
Bajaj said that the sale of two-wheelers won't go back to their earlier double-digit growth figures till the Reserve Bank of India relaxes existing tight monetary policy.
"Sale of two-wheelers has already declined from double-digit growth in January 2007 to single-digit and is in the negative figures. Only when the tight monetary policy is reversed following a decline in the inflationary pressure, can we expect an upward trend of sales in two-wheelers," he said.
The industrialist said two-wheeler manufacturers are internally and externally capable of sustaining their markets but require the help of the government.
"I can see inflation coming down and we can expect it to touch low single-digit figures of 5-6 per cent by March 2009. And once that happens, the Reserve Bank would no doubt relax its monetary policy and we would see a boom in the market," Bajaj said.
