Land, labour reforms must to boost manufacturing: Pawan Munjal

Confident that the next 25 years will belong to India, Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal on Thursday said land and labour reforms are “very important” to boost the country’s manufacturing sector.

“Land and Labour reforms are very very important for the industry, for manufacturing. Right now, both are inconsistent.

For expansion, it is so difficult to get land. For expanding manufacturing, the capacity in labour is extremely important.

There are lots of issues...these two are very important,” Munjal said at the India Economic Summit, which is jointly organised by WEF and CII, here.

Commending the efforts made by the Narendra Modi-led government for improving the ease of doing business, Munjal, who is also the Managing Director and CEO of the country’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, said the economy is positively changing.

“Going forward, to my mind, the efforts required (by the government) are happening. I’m very confident that the next 25 years are going to be India’s years,” he noted.

He, however, said the government should come out with a roadmap for the next 5-10 years on infrastructure, employment, etc, which gives a clear view to the industry in stead of depending on the budget announcements every year for such policy directions.

Taking a contrary view, IT major Tech Mahindra’s Vice Chairman Vineet Nayyar said the trickle down effect as expected has not happened.

The IT industry saw dramatic growth, but sectors like agriculture have been neglected and growth has been “edgy”, he added.The performance of garments and the textile sector too has gone down. Bangladesh, which is half the size of West Bengal, now exports twice as much garments as India does, Nayyar said.On the areas to focus for the next 25 years, Professor of Economic at the Harvard University Gita Gopinath said India should continue with its emphasis on reforms.Another important area is skill development, she said adding the country needs to keep on updating skills of its workforce and keep them in tune with the changing scenario.CII President Naushad Forbes said India needs to concentrate on reforms in the education and the healthcare sectors.