Posts
On CNBC-TV18's special show, India at Global Crossroads, a panel of eminent guests including Theodore (Ted) Voorhees, chairman, ABA Anti Trust Section, Ashok Chawla, chairperson, CCI and M Damodaran, former chairman SEBI shared their insights on the issues plaguing the country.
India hosts a 3rd of the world's poor and half of the world's malnourished. It is 95th on the corruption index and 132nd on the index of business confidence. At a time, when on a high interest rates, inflation, subsidy and deficit, but on a low is accountability, confidence, profit and credit, investors are wary to invest and the government is wary to divest. Savings are slow and profits are low, but the consumer still wants to spend and the banks still want to lend. All this is boiling down to a whirlpool of a key six letter word called "policy."
Below is the edited transcript of the panel discussion on CNBC-TV18
Q: Do you think competition in India is fair, comprehensive and transparent?
Voorhees: Competition in India is relatively new, in the United States we have had a competition regime, we call it Anti Trust for 120 years. In India it has been considerably less than that, but it is a very powerful force. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is doing a very good job and we look forward to great evolution of the competition policy in this county.
Q: I used three words, you haven't answered either fair, transparent and comprehensive?
Voorhees: I believe it is doing an excellent job on all of those, but it can aspire to do more.
Q: At a time when we are deprived of the foreign capital at one hand and we are looking at inclusive growth do you think we have fair competition?
Chawla: We are certainly on the road to fair play competition as it should be and as other jurisdictions practice it. But whether that's going to be entirely relevant or critical or the only critical factor for foreign investment is a separate issue. What we have and what we need to provide is fair play, which doesn't curb the animal spirits of private enterprise, but this applies equally to domestic investment as well as foreign investment.
Q: Did you mentioned road? Are we at a crossroad or a road?
Chawla: We maybe at the crossroads in many other things where India has done a whole lot of work in the last 20 years on the economic front. We need to rollout new policies, tweak the existing policies, look at sectors, which haven't really done as well as they should have done. We need to focus on agriculture. We need to focus on education, health, and various facets of the policy paradigm, which will go on evolving as we go ahead. Any emerging economy will continuously be at a crossroad and always has a scope to do much more.
Q: Considering fair play, a positive policy and equal competition, yet we come from a background of various disparities caste, creed, colour, income disparities, and financial disparities. Our social fabric is so diverse, so we have a sense of protectionism. Now how do you have a crossroad between fair competition and protectionism?
Damodaran: None of the factors that you mentioned affect policy formulation. What is interesting is that we must recognise these as facts and build on the strengths that they offer. We should not look at every difference as disabling. We must build on the strengths. We must build on the diversity that this country offers and put together a model that takes us far. I don't see this negatively at all.
Q: I am not saying negativity but protectionism, which itself is contrary to fair play. So do you believe protectionism should continue?
Damodaran: When considering fair competition and providing everyone the same opportunities you must look at; from where the person has come from? What have been their backgrounds? What is the circumstance that have created the relative disabilities that some people have and then create the circumstances in which everyone gets a fair opportunity to measure upto his or her potential.
If you don't put those building blocks in place and focus on a level playing field, without enabling people to qualify for being in that field to belong to that league you are creating bigger problems because then relative deprivation will kick in and that is worse than absolute deprivation.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/special-videos/back-to-basics-india-needs-agri-health-education-reforms_798036.html
India hosts a 3rd of the world's poor and half of the world's malnourished. It is 95th on the corruption index and 132nd on the index of business confidence. At a time, when on a high interest rates, inflation, subsidy and deficit, but on a low is accountability, confidence, profit and credit, investors are wary to invest and the government is wary to divest. Savings are slow and profits are low, but the consumer still wants to spend and the banks still want to lend. All this is boiling down to a whirlpool of a key six letter word called "policy."
Below is the edited transcript of the panel discussion on CNBC-TV18
Q: Do you think competition in India is fair, comprehensive and transparent?
Voorhees: Competition in India is relatively new, in the United States we have had a competition regime, we call it Anti Trust for 120 years. In India it has been considerably less than that, but it is a very powerful force. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is doing a very good job and we look forward to great evolution of the competition policy in this county.
Q: I used three words, you haven't answered either fair, transparent and comprehensive?
Voorhees: I believe it is doing an excellent job on all of those, but it can aspire to do more.
Q: At a time when we are deprived of the foreign capital at one hand and we are looking at inclusive growth do you think we have fair competition?
Chawla: We are certainly on the road to fair play competition as it should be and as other jurisdictions practice it. But whether that's going to be entirely relevant or critical or the only critical factor for foreign investment is a separate issue. What we have and what we need to provide is fair play, which doesn't curb the animal spirits of private enterprise, but this applies equally to domestic investment as well as foreign investment.
Q: Did you mentioned road? Are we at a crossroad or a road?
Chawla: We maybe at the crossroads in many other things where India has done a whole lot of work in the last 20 years on the economic front. We need to rollout new policies, tweak the existing policies, look at sectors, which haven't really done as well as they should have done. We need to focus on agriculture. We need to focus on education, health, and various facets of the policy paradigm, which will go on evolving as we go ahead. Any emerging economy will continuously be at a crossroad and always has a scope to do much more.
Q: Considering fair play, a positive policy and equal competition, yet we come from a background of various disparities caste, creed, colour, income disparities, and financial disparities. Our social fabric is so diverse, so we have a sense of protectionism. Now how do you have a crossroad between fair competition and protectionism?
Damodaran: None of the factors that you mentioned affect policy formulation. What is interesting is that we must recognise these as facts and build on the strengths that they offer. We should not look at every difference as disabling. We must build on the strengths. We must build on the diversity that this country offers and put together a model that takes us far. I don't see this negatively at all.
Q: I am not saying negativity but protectionism, which itself is contrary to fair play. So do you believe protectionism should continue?
Damodaran: When considering fair competition and providing everyone the same opportunities you must look at; from where the person has come from? What have been their backgrounds? What is the circumstance that have created the relative disabilities that some people have and then create the circumstances in which everyone gets a fair opportunity to measure upto his or her potential.
If you don't put those building blocks in place and focus on a level playing field, without enabling people to qualify for being in that field to belong to that league you are creating bigger problems because then relative deprivation will kick in and that is worse than absolute deprivation.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/special-videos/back-to-basics-india-needs-agri-health-education-reforms_798036.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment