New Delhi, May 23: Welcoming the new government at the centre, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce today proposed an action plan, primarily aimed at providing a new dimension to the existing Indo-US relationship. The plan aims at pushing up economic growth rate to generate more employment and to take the bilateral economic relations to a new height, an IACC statement said. Asking the new government to carry forward the ecomomic reform process of the previous governments, it said special emphasis should be accorded to the growth of the manufacturing sector which has huge potential in terms of export earnings. India Inc is naturally looking forward to India occupying a "pride of position" among the comity of nations not only in terms of higher growth rates, but in achieving social justice, IACC national president V Rangaraj said.
"Growth should be all encompassing and improvement of the quality of life of the common man should be the guiding norm in any matrix of growth process," he said. This underscores the need for larger investment, continuous generation of employment opportunities and a sharp focus on improving human resource development index, Rangraj added.
IACC held the view that governments of the two countries should amicably resolve issues related to intellectual property rights and outsourcing.
Favouring a cut in various tax rates like central excise, customs duty, to the international levels, IACC said time is ripe to intorduce the "much-awaited" value added tax. India could balance the possible adverse effect due to hardening of interest rates in developed nations which include US, Japan and EU, by attracting more FDI into the country.
Bureau Report