Industry says downside risks persist even as economy picks up

New Delhi: India Inc today said the economy is showing signs of recovery but called for drastic reforms at the ground level to improve investors sentiment and sought serious attempts to revive growth in agriculture sector.[caption id=“attachment_2217110” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Economy gaining health. Reuters[/caption] The growth of agriculture sector should be seriously looked at as there is a significant decline, PHD Chamber president Alok B Shriram said in a statement. “Though there is an uptick in GDP growth…lots need to be done at the ground level for the physical effects of reforms undertaken during the recent times.” “…Make in India initiative requires drastic reforms in labour laws, land acquisition with ease of doing business at ground level. Sentiment boosting announcements will widen industry growth trajectory and help in achieving potential rate of economic growth,” he added. Ficci, said that some downside risks continue to pervade. “Agriculture output may be impacted with a sub-normal monsoon forecast this year, weak demand remains a persisting concern and a firm turnaround in the domestic capex cycle is awaited,” it said. Ficci’s business confidence surveys indicate that firms are still apprehensive about undertaking fresh investments. “Inflation, which was a major concern factor has been on downward trajectory. We hope that Reserve Bank will cut the repo rate by 50 bps,” it added. Assocham too said that the policy makers need to continue with the proactive stance. The government needs to keep on pushing more ground-level reforms and improve implementation so as to realise the economy’s true potential, the chamber said. The Indian economy grew at 7.3 percent in 2014-15 due to improvement in the performance of both services as well as manufacturing sectors. The fourth quarter of last fiscal saw the economy grow at 7.5 percent, better than 6.6 percent recorded for the previous three months. “The need is for creating an investment and industry friendly environment that is largely focused on growth, job creation, poverty alleviation and passing the benefits of the economic growth to the lowest sections of the economy,” Assocham said. Industry body CII said that the figure indicates that the policy and reform initiatives taken by the government are bearing results on the ground. “We expect further improvement of the key levers of the economy, going forward, as the government steps up public investment, which in the process crowds in private investment to rekindle a new demand cycle in the economy,” it said in a statement. The GDP numbers for the fourth quarter show a rebound in growth compared with the previous quarter on the back of improved performance of the mining and manufacturing sectors as well as trade, CII said. PTI