CII wants new industrial policy

Chennai: Confederation of Indian Industry on Monday sought a new industrial policy considering the presence of e-commerce players, as the existing one was more than 20 years old, a top official said.

"We need a new industrial policy. At this time, we are working on an industrial policy which was crafted in the 90s. There seems to be so much happening in the industry including presence of e-commerce (companies)..," Apollo Hospitals Executive Vice Chairman, Shobana Kamineni, who took over as the new President of CII in May this year, told reporters.

On the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, she said "this is a reform which has come for the industry to benefit."

Kamineni, on her maiden visit to the city after taking over as CII president, said there was need to address the non-performing assets in the banks.

"We need to resolve the NPAs. If industry needs to go ahead, we need to resolve the NPAs," she said.

Earlier, Kamineni along with CII Director General, Chandrajit Banerjee, CII Southern Region Chairman, Vikram Kirloskar and senior officials of the trade body met Chief Minister K Palaniswami, Electricity Minister P Thangamani and Industries Minister M C Sampath at the Secretariat.

The meeting was described as a courtesy call, a government release said.