Commenting on the Bharat Bandh called by various political parties and formations, CII has said that the Government of India should not yield to political pressure on reforms. Good economics seldom makes for good politics and therefore, it is important to communicate to the masses the merit and necessity of the reform measures announced by the Government, the CII release said.

“It is not often that bold measures are announced to take economic reforms to the next level and whenever such announcements have been made, there have been pain felt by many. But the merits of the reforms that were first initiated in the early nineties are there for everyone to see. Irrespective of whichever political party has been in the government since then, the reforms have not been reversed. CII is hopeful that parties across the political spectrum of the country would work to ensure that the economic reforms that are necessary for India are carried out.” said Adi Godrej, President, CII.

Today’s bandh has been disruptive for business and trade in many parts of the country. While an exact loss for the entire economy is not known, it can be estimated that almost Rs 12500 crores has been the loss to the country in terms of disruptions in production and trade, the CII release said.

Reiterating CII’s support for the decisions on fuel subsidy rationalization and easing of FDI norms for select sectors, the CII release said that the people of India would benefit from this. The economic logic of this is clear, but it is often very difficult to translate this into popular logic which is easily comprehended by all. The CII release said that easy and comprehensible communication is as much a necessary exercise as are the announcements, which are made after detailed deliberations.

The release, issued here today said that CII actually hopes that the decisions announced so far are the beginning of a slew of measures that the economy needs.