Vikram Kirloskar, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the presence of the association’s functionaries launched CII document on ‘100 days Agenda for the New Government’ here in Delhi on Monday.
The CII President was interacting with the media for the first time after assuming office and said, “Strong action to spur consumption, investments and net exports will take GDP growth rates higher. This is the right time for India to think big and envision GDP growth rate of 10% to greatly improve development outcomes. With a landslide electoral victory and new Council of Ministers in place, we expect the Government to engage strongly with industry to ideate and implement impactful policy solutions for double-digit growth.”
Keeping his thoughts on revoking of preferential trade status for India under
Generalised System of Preference (GSP), Kirloskar said,” The issue of GSP has been done in a little bit of ‘haste’……….it’s certainly going to hurt small item exporters.”
He added, “Rolling back these benefits would impact both Indian as well as US companies. US importers enjoyed nearly USD 730 million in savings on import duties under the GSP programme in 2016 and 2017. It saved American companies USD 894 million.”
However, Kirloskar expressed hope that both India and the US will find out an amicable solution of this issue and suggested that creation of more US investment focus strategies and devising a WTO compliant mechanism will create a win-win situation for both the countries.
