Ritesh Tiwari, outgoing President, Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry and CFO, Hindustan Unilever and Unilever South Asia with Shri Das and Pinky Mehta, President Designate of the Bombay Chamber and CFO of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd.
Mumbai : India is at the threshold of a major
structural shift in its growth trajectory, moving towards 8 percent GDP growth
in a sustained manner, said RBI Governor Shri Shaktikanta Das. He was speaking
at the 188th AGM of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Giving figures, Shri Das said that the average growth India recorded over the
last three years is 8.3%, with the current year projected at 7.2% growth. “The
Indian economy in the last FY contributed to 18.5 percent of global growth -
and this is no mean achievement,” he added.
According
to Shri Das, the main drivers for this growth in the last three years have been
the various structural reforms and policy initiatives. He pointed out that GST
has stabilised much faster than other economies - this is reflected in the fact
that the tax collections in GST has touched 1.7 lakh crores per month. Further,
the introduction of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and Flexible Inflation
Targeting Framework by way of amendment to RBI Act in 2016 - have all helped
this growth.
Shri Das
further said that India’s growth story has been and will be multi sectoral. “A
country with a 140 crore population, which is the fifth largest economy,
aspiring to become the third largest and an advanced economy by 2047, cannot
depend on a single sector.” He mentioned how growth is well sustained
with the outlook for the current year at 7.2 %. “Inflation is at 4.7 percent
with downside risks, our aim is to bring it down to 4%, but this will take time
for us to achieve.”
He also
spoke about the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and said that it is the
future of money. He added that the digital currency will not be in competition
with UPI and, instead, both will co-exist and be interoperable.
Concluding
his Address, Shri Das said, “As a central bank, we have issued our agenda for
RBI@100. We are at the forefront of adoption of technology and of innovation
and are fully committed to all its mandates and responsibilities assigned to it
and in supporting India’s growth story.”
In his Presidential address, Ritesh Tiwari, outgoing President,
Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry and CFO, Hindustan Unilever
and Unilever South Asia, outlined the Chamber’s
various path breaking initiatives and said, "Bombay Chamber’s
continued programmatic educative interventions, like the many we did this year,
are paramount to accelerate the pace of digitisation across the country that is
needed to capitalise on this potential thus driving pan India innovation.”
Tiwari
also highlighted the high quality of advocacy papers submitted by the Bombay
Chamber, and their impactful recommendations to the SEBI expert committee for
improving the ease of doing business. He noted that most of these
recommendations were accepted and are now open for public consultation,
emphasising that such advocacy by the Chamber has a significant and tangible
impact.
Delivering
her mission statement, Pinky Mehta, President Designate,
Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Director, Aditya Birla Sun
Life Insurance, said, "In keeping with
our government’s vision of making India a Developed Nation, I wish to call my
mission statement ‘Collaborative Development towards a Viksit Bharat‘. The same
four critical aspects of the mission will continue with a focus on (1)
Embracing Digitalisation (2) Bringing ESG to the heart of business (3)
Enhancing Ease of Doing Business and (4) Fostering Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion."
At the event, the Chamber also unveiled the findings of its
inaugural Sustainability Practices Survey. Anirban Ghosh, Chairman of the
Sustainability Committee at Bombay Chamber and Head of the Centre for
Sustainability at Mahindra University, presented the key highlights.
Aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit
Bharat@2047, the evening also saw a Panel Discussion on the topic. The panel
was moderated by Dr. Sachchidanand Shukla, Chairman, EPRD Committee, Bombay
Chamber and Group Chief Economist, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, and featured Nilesh
Shah, Past President, Bombay Chamber and Group President & MD, Kotak
Mahindra Asset Management Company, Navneet Munot, Director, Bombay Chamber and
MD & CEO, HDFC Asset Management Company, Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Economist,
Axis Bank and MD & Head of Global Research, Axis Capital and Santanu
Sengupta, Chief India Economist, Goldman Sachs. They discussed steps that need
to be taken for India to reach its aim of a Viksit Bharat by 2047 - while the
country is already developed in terms of digital infrastructure, there is a
need to look at important aspects such as climate change, technology,
significant health and income inequality, and ensure growth shifts from poverty
to middle income. Reforms are also needed in areas such as GST, direct tax and
urban infrastructure, where the biggest drawback for us viz a viz developed
countries is capital stock.
Rajiv Anand, Sr. Vice President Designate, Bombay
Chamber and Deputy Managing Director, Axis Bank, delivered the Vote of Thanks.