 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewing the progress of Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer programmes at a high level meeting in New Delh")
Assocham on Sunday described the two-year tenure of the Narendra Modi government as "work in progress". According to the industry chamber, the country's big macroeconomic picture is steady and bold moves have been taken in the roads and highways, railways and energy sectors.
It gave seven out of 10 to the government on the performance chart as it awaits the passage of the goods and services (GST) Bill, high disinvestment proceedings, sorting out of tax disputes and farm reforms.
"Assocham's assessment about the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government on completion of its two years is based on interactions and feedback of the cross section of industry leaders from manufacturing, banking, real estate, trading and infrastructure industries," the chamber stated.
According to Assocham president Sunil Kanoria, Modi's leadership clearly stands out in certain critical areas such as foreign policy and push to the infrastructure sectors. However, the industry would also expect consideration traction in disinvestment, resolution of taxation disputes, agriculture reforms and most importantly, the GST Bill.
"While laudable work has been initiated in the key infrastructure areas like highways, power and the railways, aggressive approach would now be required in the challenging sector of agriculture and the entire rural landscape, which is passing through a crisis," said Kanoria.
He added that the rural population needs immediate helping hand. "As far as macro economy is concerned, India has come out a lot more stable and stronger than the summer of 2014. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan did commendable work in terms of bringing about a stable exchange rate, drastic reduction in current account deficit and moving some of the key legislative reforms such bankruptcy law and real estate regulation. However, a lot more is required as for as the tax disputes and litigation is concerned."
