'PM Modi Uniquely Placed To Unshackle India'

IN THE RUN-UP TO THE UNION BUDGET, the Narendra Modi government has been meeting experts, economists, and industrialists. In one such meeting organized by the Niti Aayog on June 22 — where PM Narendra Modi was present —, three industry leaders were invited to make presentations on the “road ahead”.

- Suman K. Jha

Vedanta founder ANIL AGARWAL was one of them (the other two being Tata’s N. Chandrasekaran, and ITC’s Sanjiv Puri). Agarwal later spoke to BW Businessworld’s SUMAN K. JHA on what he thinks are the measures required to revive the economy. Excerpts:

How did the meeting with the PM and Niti Aayog go?

The meeting was called by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant to present a roadmap to the Prime Minister on healthcare, jobs, education, among other things, in the run-up to the Union Budget. I spoke about our imports, currently valued at $400 billion dollars, which can easily go up to $1 trillion.

Do we really need to import that much? We have the best human resources, technical expertise, and abundant natural resources. For instance, we are the third richest in coal — why import coal then? There are enough funds available globally and India is uniquely placed to attract that. We need to create enabling conditions and undertake, for instance, labor reforms.

If we increase our oil production from one million barrels a year to two million barrels and produce 300 tonnes of gold, our current account deficit (CAD) will go.

We should not flout environmental laws — for I believe, it’s of utmost importance. Other than this, no other permissions should be required. PM Modi has said, and I have long maintained, that the government has no business to be in business. What must, however, be ensured is that there are no job losses or retrenchments (while the government is divesting).