India must aim to be among first-25 countries on EoDB rankings for realizing $5 trillion goal – DPIIT Secretary
New Delhi: Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, said that if India is able to move into the list of first-50 and then first-25 countries on the Ease of Doing Business rankings, its path to a $5 trillion economy will be smooth.
Speaking at the 92nd Annual Convention of FICCI, Dr Mohapatra said, “To realize the dream of a $5 trillion economy, we have to ensure that the services sector maintains its primacy. We need to encourage agriculture to be more income-oriented, and less farm-oriented, and the manufacturing sector needs to be given emphasis.”
“India needs to grow at more than 9% continuously for the next 4-5 years to achieve the $5 trillion target,” he pointed out.
Mr Alok Srivastava, Secretary, Department of Justice, GoI, said that one of the things high on the government’s agenda, for contributing to the $5 trillion economy target, is to create e-courts.
“Today we have close to 17,000 courts in the country that are electronically connected. The National Judicial Data Grid has information on each and every court case. So every case is mapped. Advocates who register in this data grid can get access, litigants and judges can also get access. There are 11 crore orders and judgments that are already part of this data grid,” he added.
“Our effort is now to go towards e-filing in a big way. Virtual courts have started to deal with traffic challans and about 3.5 lakh challans have been finalized without any face-to-face hearing,” Mr Srivastava mentioned.
Mr Heeralal Samariya, Secretary, Ministry of Labor and Employment, GoI, talked about single registration and single licensing while maintaining that the workers should be able to get minimum wages.
Mr Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Dairying and Anil Husbandry, GoI, pointed out that the CAGR in the livestock sector in the past 5 years has been around 8%, which is comparable to manufacturing, which has grown by 8.7%, and services with around 8.3%. “So this is a sector that gives you return matching the concept of ‘manufacturing and services’,” he said.
Mr Sandip Somany, President, FICCI, said, “Despite the current downturn in the economy, given the strong fundamentals, and the ambitious reform agenda initiated, India is set to grow at a much faster pace going ahead. The pursuit of making India a $5 trillion economy requires a sustained 8% growth rate or beyond.”
“Achieving the objective of making India a $5 trillion economy requires pushing the reforms agenda further. Concrete steps are required for fuelling growth and demand and creating employment. Moving towards that goal requires an ecosystem for nurturing innovation and accelerating the pace of adoption of cutting edge technology,” he added.
Mr Pankaj Patel, Past President, FICCI, said that the $5 trillion dream is achievable, but India needs to do more.
Dr Sangita Reddy, President-elect, FICCI, offered the vote of thanks to conclude the session.