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Business News/ Industry / Manufacturing/  Deepak Parekh says ‘achhe din’ haven’t arrived for business yet
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Deepak Parekh says ‘achhe din’ haven’t arrived for business yet

HDFC's Deepak Parekh says little has been done by the govt in first nine months to improve ease of doing business

A file photo of Deepak Parekh. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/MintPremium
A file photo of Deepak Parekh. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

New Delhi: The first rumblings are being heard in Indian industry against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

On Wednesday, Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC), in an interview to PTI, went on record to air his impatience with the government for not doing enough, especially in the context of the fact that it enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha.

In last year’s general election, the BJP became the first party in 30 years to win a majority in the Lower House of Parliament.

Parekh maintained that while the industry is still optimistic about the changes it expects from the government, there has been little that has been done in its first nine months in power to improve ease of doing business.

He cautioned that the NDA government’s Make in India programme to boost manufacturing can succeed only if it is easier to do business in India and policy decisions are fast-tracked.

“I think there is still a lot of optimism among the people of the country and among the industrialists and entrepreneurs that the Modi government will be good for business, for progress, for reducing corruption. They think this government means business on all these fronts," Parekh said, and then added, “However, after nine months, there is a little bit of impatience creeping in as to why no changes are happening and why this is taking so long having effect on the ground. The optimism is there, but it is not translating into revenues. Any industry you see, when there is a lot of optimism, the growth should be faster."

The BJP’s humiliating defeat in the just-concluded Delhi assembly polls too has proved to be a setback for the government. Till the Delhi debacle, the BJP had generated unprecedented political momentum. Not only did it convincingly win the 16th general election, but it also won three consecutive assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, and is poised to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party.

“There was huge expectation from the Modi government. The government has mainly relied only on bureaucrats to come out with solutions. It is possible the government could have taken help of the industry and civil society to simplify procedures for doing business in the country. Taking help of the people who are already part of the government may not bring effective results," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.

Parekh has a reputation for being vocal with his views on reforms and policy measures undertaken by the various governments. He was among the first industry leaders to openly criticize the previous United Progressive Alliance for “policy paralysis" after a spate of corruption scandals led to decisions getting delayed within the government.

“The thing is that our Prime Minister had a lucky period in these nine months. The world commodity prices are at all-time low, which help India the most," Parekh said.

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Published: 18 Feb 2015, 07:58 PM IST
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