Is the divide between India Inc and the government widening?
24 Dec 2011
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chided corporate India for worsening the climate of uncertainty, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told India Inc to work with the government and not against it.
After an angry prime minister lashed out at India Inc for merely adding fuel to the fire against the government, the finance minister today also chided industry for its attitude!
Pranab Mukherjee has requested industry heads to lend a helping hand to solve India's issues. On the much debated issue of FDI in retail, the finance minister said that the government is very committed to bringing about FDI and that the move has not been shelved.
While it's great that the government has finally awoken from its slumber and taking charge of India's bludgeoned situation, Sunil Jain, editor opinion, The Financial Express says they need to be firm with a different set of people as India Inc feels it is the government which is stopping projects, stopping legislation which is shying investors away from investing in the India story.
Jain says that the already widening trust deficit between the government and corporate India is not at any new low, but it definitely is a low.
''We have had very adversarial relations between the government of the day and corporate India in the past. That's worrying because if you are looking at investment levels they are clearly not happening,'' Jain adds.