In a recent interview with Richard Fenning, CEO of Control Risks, Amitabh Kant, Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the principal architect of ‘Make in India’, one of the government’s flagship initiatives, spoke about the ease of doing business, corruption, legislative gridlock, competitive federalism and the government’s reform agenda.
He highlighted the optimism and sense of hope with which the BJP government came to power, and his confidence that the government will bring about the necessary changes to make India more investor friendly.
“I think a lot of very unique initiatives have been taken on making India a very simple place to do business. We had made ourselves a very complex, very complicated, and very difficult place to do business in. So, I think, the government has put a lot of stress on making India easy and simple,” Kant said.
On the issue of corruption and black money, Kant contrasted the anti-corruption approach of the current government to previous Indian administrations.
“During the last year I have not come across any incident of corruption top-down as far as the central government is concerned. This government has pushed for transparency by putting everything through a process of open transparent competitive bidding,” Kant asserts.
James Owen, Senior Managing Director of Control Risks India and South Asia, welcomed Kant’s commitment to improving the ease of doing business in India, noting that, while there are many challenges for investors in India, there are also many signals that should give confidence to those seeking to do business in the country.
“Living up to the huge up-swell in hope that swept Modi to power in 2014 has inevitably proven difficult, but the outlook remains positive, with the government committed to a number of key reforms that will make the investment environment easier to navigate for both foreign and domestic companies. The best way for companies to take advantage of the opportunities is to ensure their strategies are accompanied by a robust approach to risk management, enabling them to maximise their profits in one of the world’s fastest growing economies,” Owen noted.
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