NEW DELHI : Commenting on the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in the Parliament earlier today, Mr Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, President, FICCI said, “It is heartening to note the emphasis the Economic Survey has placed on ‘deregulation’ and furthering the agenda of ease of doing business in the country. The survey has highlighted that allowing businesses to focus on their core mission is a significant contribution that governments around the country can make to foster innovation and enhance competitiveness. FICCI has been of the view that by simplifying regulations and doing away with old regulations, the cost of doing business in the country can be reduced significantly and this will promote investments and overall growth.”
“Further, we would like to mention that regulatory reforms require active participation of the state governments and their role in improving the business climate in the country is becoming increasingly important,” Mr Agarwal added.
The survey has also highlighted the need to improve the manufacturing sector competitiveness. This is extremely important, and FICCI has suggested scaling-up R&D and innovation spend in the country. Additionally, there is a need to create a robust eco-system for domestic manufacturing by laying a thrust on Production Linked Incentives for critical sectors. The Economic Survey has highlighted FICCI’s report on how PLI schemes have led to development of complete value chain.
Commenting on the GDP growth outlook Mr Agarwal said, “while the growth assessment is slightly lower than FICCI’s own assessment, we expect that the Union Budget tomorrow will provide impetus for both consumption and investment demand. We look forward to rationalization of the tax structure in the budget with a view to putting more money in the hands of consumers for greater discretionary spend.”
Addressing the issue of food inflation is equally important. FICCI concurs with the suggestions made in the Economic Survey for developing climate-resilient crop varieties and enhancing agriculture yield, as well as implementing robust data collection and analysis systems for integrated monitoring of agriculture ecosystem. This is in line with FICCI’s suggestion to have a Food Inflation Response and Strategy Team (FIRST) mechanism for creating an e-enabled, empowered co-ordination framework along with a global market intelligence mechanism that can aid in better forecasts and planning.
The Economic Survey has focused on balancing energy transition while maintaining energy security. FICCI agrees with the Survey’s analysis and recommendation to reduce import dependence for critical items from a single source. Building the domestic ecosystem for industries such as EVs, Solar and Wind Energy are critical from the perspective of meeting our long-term targets for a low carbon growth path.