The CII president, Rahul Bajaj, says the apex organisation's estimate of fiscal deficit for the current year, at 6.8 per cent of GDP may have to be revised after Kargil.
While refusing to be drawn into giving any specific projections, he said it "will depend on how long the operations last."
While the deficit could be reduced from about 8 per cent of GDP to about 5.5 per cent during the era of Manmohan Singh, the figure has begun inching upward again.
The target has been to reduce it gradually from 5 per cent to 3 per cent in the medium term, but instead it has increased to little over 5.5 per cent and CII has projected that by the end of the year it will be around 6.8 per cent, "excluding Kargil."
Drawing attention to the fiscal crisis looming large at the state level, Bajaj stressed the need for market pricing of power, reduction in subsidies, privatisaton of state PSUs and removal of procedural difficulties.
Talking about imports, Bajaj called for strengthening of the anti-dumping organisation in the centre and a regular review of the floor price on imports.
The western world, charged Bajaj are quick to resort to anti-dumping and erect non-tariff barriers to protect their domestic industry. India too should do the same, he said.
"Indian industry cannot be expected to be globally competitive, if we have to take on competition with our hands tied to the back," he said.
On the mounting NPAs that banks and financial institutions are faced with, the CII president called for stringent action against willful defaulters.
"There may be cases where there may be genuine reasons for some companies defaulting on their loans. While these merit a sympathetic hearing, the CII believes that the market should not treat kindly those who default on loans on purpose."
There should be no exception where there is willful default even if they happen to be from the CII," Bajaj said. With NPAs growing, t
