Top government officials have said that government is pursuing reforms with gusto giving thrust to entrepreneurship, skill building and greater technology diffusion which are key to high industrial growth particularly MSMEs that had had huge job potential.

India needed to achieve high growth path of 9-10 per cent annually on a sustained basis and this required a slew of reforms that ensured conducive atmosphere for business, top government secretaries told FICCI annual general meeting.

Anup K Pujari, Secretary, MSME, said, “While we already have a lot of good policies on paper, it is the implementation of these policies which is imperative”. He added that instilling a feeling of trust among the people was essential for the successful pursuit of the reform agenda.

The reform measures would enable India to break in to the top 50 countries on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking list over the next 2-3 years,” Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion said.

Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Economic Affairs, said given India’s demographics, it is important to give a thrust to skill building; otherwise this advantage will turn into a demographic liability. Secondly, reform is a continuous process. The Government has already undertaken reforms related to ease of doing business and going forward it must continue with this momentum.

Government recognizes the challenges in agriculture and banking sectors and is working towards addressing these. Lastly, it is most critical to kick start the domestic private capital expenditure cycle.

Das expressed optimism that GST would be in place soon and the Centre and states were fully prepared administratively to take this critical tax reform measure forward.

Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, Steel, added that there is a need to give a thrust to entrepreneurship. Also, greater technology diffusion will be the key to move to a higher growth trajectory.

Sanjay Kothari, Secretary (Personnel), said that change in mindset of the people would be necessary to push the reform agenda forward.