Commerce ministry to set up regulatory review committee under DIPP

New Delhi: The commerce and industry ministry has decided to set up a review committee to look into regulatory issues being faced by the industry, Union minister Suresh Prabhu said on Tuesday.

The decision was taken in a meeting convened by the minister with industry chambers including Ficci, PHDCCI, CII and senior government officials.

Prabhu said the interaction was mainly to look at ways through which both the ministry and the industry can work together to push the growth to higher trajectory by taking certain measures.

"We have decided to set up a regulatory review committee under the chairmanship of DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) secretary so that very quickly we can look into some of the issues which needed for growth," he told reporters after the meeting.

He said the issue of utilisation of capacity was also discussed.

Further, a government official said that the committee, which would have members from industry also, will look into all the regulatory issues which are affecting the industry.

It would help in promoting ease of doing business in the country, the official said.

The industry has raised issues related to certain laws, processes and the Goods and Services Tax.

The ministry has also decided to take regular feedback from the industry on implementation of measures on ease of doing business.

"We have also decided to monitor various investment proposals both foreign and domestic to fastrack the approval processes. We will make extra effort for that and work with states," an official, who did not wish to be named, said.

The official also said that the ministry has asked the industry to give a sector-wise report on ways to increase capacity utilisation, which is around 74 percent on average.

Capacity utilisation can be done both by increasing domestic consumption or exports.

Former Ficci president R V Kanoria, who attended the meeting, said that the major takeaway of this meeting was the confidence building which the minister was trying to do and that has "really enthused the industry".

The discussion includes "how we can get growth and employment back in the country...For some time we have seen that there have been pressures on Indian economy," he told reporters.

Ficci Secretary General Sanjaya Baru said that their main submission was that the confidence of Indian businesses should be boosted as growth has slowed down over a long period of time.

"Last 6-7 years, there has been a secular decline and therefore there are concerns about the nature of the growth process.

"So we said once the confidence builds up then automatically investments will increase," he said.

The meeting was attended by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia and Textiles Secretary.

Meanwhile, the CII in a statement said it raised several issues including focus on four main areas - investments, exports, MSMEs and employment.

The CII asked for cut in interest rates by 100 basis points over the next year to spur consumption; relaxation of fiscal consolidation targets for a year or two; lower corporate tax to 18 percent while removing all exemptions; expand coverage of GST to include electricity, oil and gas, alcohol and real estate at the earliest.

To boost exports, it suggested to allow commercial banks to lend more to SMEs and increase interest rate subsidy rate to 4 percent from 3 percent at present.

To generate jobs, it asked to reinstate fixed term employment for all manufacturing sectors and discourage arbitrary fixation of minimum wages without taking into consideration skills levels.