Describing the two-year tenure of the Prime Minister,Narendra Modi’s Government as ‘work in progress,’ apex industry body ASSOCHAM 23 May said that country’s big macroeconomic picture has certainly been steadied while some bold moves have been made in the roads and highways, railways and energy sectors earning  seven out of ten ranking from India Inc on the performance chart.

 “The ASSOCHAM assessment about the NDA Government on completion of its two years is based on interactions and feedback of the cross section of industry leaders from manufacturing, banking, real estate, trading and infrastructure industries,” said The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

ASSOCHAM President, Sunil Kanoria said, “The leadership of Modi clearly stands out in certain critical areas like the foreign policy and push to the infrastructure sectors, however, the industry would expect consideration traction in disinvestment, resolution of taxation disputes, agriculture reforms and most importantly the GST Bill.”

“While laudable work has been initiated in the key infrastructure areas like highways, power and the railways, aggressive approach would now be required in the challenging sector of agriculture and the entire rural landscape, which is passing through crisis,” said  Kanoria.

“The rural population needs immediate helping hand. As far as macro economy is concerned, India has no doubt it will come out a lot more stable and strong as compared to the summer of 2014. Finance Minister,  Arun Jaitley and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Dr Raghuram Rajan did commendable work in terms of bringing about a stable exchange rate, drastic reduction in current account deficit and moving some of the key legislative reforms such Bankruptcy Law, Real Estate Regulation. However, lot more is required as for as the tax disputes and litigation is concerned,” said The ASSOCHAM Chief.

He said while the industry would always want lower and still lower interest rates, a lot of credit must be given to the RBI Governor for slashing the policy interest rates at least by 150 basis points over the last 15 months, though the banks did not pass on the same to the consumers.

“In a situation when the central bank is mandated to do inflation targeting, its main task becomes inflation calibration, which ultimately leads to sustainable growth,” said Kanoria.