"Under the prevailing political uncertainty, ordinances should be issued by the government on bills which have been already introduced in the Parliament and vetted by expert committees," CII's newly-elected president Rahul Bajaj told a press conference. ``The multi-party standing committees have already examined the bills, the government can resort to ordinance route to continue the reform process,'' he said.

Calling for an early constitution of the Foreign Investment Implementation Authority (FIIA), Bajaj said the government's discretionary powers on FDI clearances should be minimum.

Bajaj said disinvestment had been approved by the Union cabinet should not be delayed any further and the disinvestment commission should be empowered to overseestrategic sales. "At least 74 per cent of the equity in PSUs should be offered for sale at the earliest in the domestic market," he said.

Time-bound appointment of merchant bankers and lead managers should be ensured besides providing complete autonomy to the PSU boards, the CII president said. Regulations and frameworks governing venture capital funds (VCFs) should be suitably amended to attract small and medium enterprises and info-tech companies which largely depend on such funds for growth, Bajaj said.

Stating that small-scale units (SSI) need to be encouraged for employment generation and exports, he said this should not, however, lead to pampering of inefficient units. "Out of the 837 items reserved for SSIs, 233 are not manufactured in India," he said adding these items should be dereserved to facilitate production by large-scale units.

While certain items are reserved for SSIs, at the same time they can be imported under open general licence thus hurting domestic Indian industry, he pointed out."It would be better to allow big companies to manufacture them rather than allow imports," he said adding that national interest did not always coincide with consumer interest.

"While competition from outside is welcome, dumping cannot be accepted even though it may benefit the consumer," Bajaj said calling for strengthening of the anti-dumping organisation of the government which he said has been slow to react several times. Quarterly review of floor price based on international prices of commodities to prevent dumping of imports is required.

He also suggested phasing out of export-import restrictions on agricultural products besides allowing inter-state movement of food grains to facilitate internal trade and futures trading in wheat and rice. In the area of labour reforms, the CII's recommendations include constitution of a labour commission, adequate representation for industry and submission of the commission's report by September 30.

"An exit policy practicable for both labour and management isneeded to provide a level playing field to Indian industry versus imports," Bajaj said. While liberalisation and reduction of controls were welcome, strong regulatory authorities were also needed, he said.

To ensure fiscal discipline, the CII president recommended phasing out of subsidies on fertilisers, food, power, water and public transport moving towards user charges and market pricing.

CII sees 6 pc GDP growth

NEW DELHI: THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today projected a healthy six per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for 1999-2000 but said inflation would climb up to six per cent from the current level of 4.17 per cent. "Though we would have liked the economy to post better growth rate than what is projected, the current political scenario and the ensuing elections will see the economy ending the year on these lines," the newly-elected president of the chamber Rahul Bajaj told a press conference here.

The apex chamber has also estimated the industrial growth at sixper cent, agriculture growth at three per cent and the services sector growth at eight per cent. Bajaj said the encouraging estimates were the result of an `optimistic approach' taken by CII while calculating the index of economic performances.

CII president said the fiscal deficit targeted at 6.8 per cent could go further up if the government failed to rein in its revenue expenditure and achieve the disinvestment target of Rs 10,000 crore set in the Union budget for 1999-2000. While the growth in imports has been projected to be 10 per cent, CII has said exports would witness a rebound and end the year posting about five per cent growth as compared to the nearly zero per cent growth rate recorded during 1998-99.