T V Narendran, Managing Director, India and South East Asia, Tata Steel “We congratulate the winning party and look forward to partnering with the new government. We must work closely together to realize the potential to rally business confidence along the vast opportunities that India has to offer and are confident that the new government will provide a strong and stable new direction for growth in the country. We look forward to clarity on policy going forward and a commitment to strong action that will help the steel and mining industry to play its part with the government in enabling India’s overall all – round growth.”
Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate), Tata Steel, welcoming the outcome said: “We are optimistic that the new government will drive the country in the right direction of economy, infrastructure, inclusive growth and foreign relations. We are confident that the new government will take the right steps in instilling confidence in steel and mining industry and expedite the infrastructure projects to provide a holistic development of the country. We envisage a stable government and a fruitful journey of economic growth which would place India in a stronger position on the global map.”
Naresh Trehan, Chairman & MD, MEDANTA- THE MEDCITY: Mr Modi has been, from the age of 8, focused on writing the script of his life. If he gets in his head that he can fix India, and finds the right people, I think we have big hopes. My request to Mr Modi is to give us a decent minister for health because so far we have been relegated to the worst. Dr Harshvardhan is a good candidate for the post. He qualifies, there may be others too. For us it must be somebody who understands healthcare.
At least 3 per cent of GDP should be spent on healthcare. There are three sectors in healthcare: Govt, Private and NGOs. About 80 per cent lies in the private sector. There are thick firewalls between the three. We need to align everybody. We have to start from the last man on the ground. We have 8,00,000 ASHAs on the ground, we need to mobilise that as our frontier health worker. At the secondary level the Government does have a network but it is not working. That’s where PPP models can come in handy. We had shared it with the previous Govt but it could not get through the quagmire. If Mr Modi’s Government is a no-nonsense Govt, we can do it in one month. Private players are ready to participate in low cost healthcare.
Sumant Sinha, Chairman & CEO, ReNew Power Venture: In the long term, the Govt needs to totally change the energy paradigm. We have to move from the conventional point of view to renewable energy sources. If you look at the world over, globally last year half the power added was from clean energy sources. In India, that number was 20-25 per cent. Going forward, with wind and solar becoming so much more competitive, we have to rethink our power paradigm.
In a way, Mr Modi started the solar revolution in India with a plant in Gujarat. That helped bring the price of solar power down in the country. He has an understanding of the renewable sector and therefore we are very hopeful that clean energy is really going to be the way forward in the power sector.
Nik Senapati, MD, Rio Tinto India: There are a lot of things that need to be done. Mining is a state subject. At the moment, with some governance issues, it is also being dealt with judiciary. That’s needs to sort itself out. What the Central Government can do is get a good business environment with good governance, then the judiciary would have less concern. The forest and environment aspects are very closely related to mining and anything to improve the decision making within the Government will help the mining industry.
In the long term, we need a sustainable mining industry from environmental, socio and economic point of view and getting the balance right between these three is important. We need quick and decisive decision making.
Jagdish Khattar, Chairman & MD, Carnation Auto: Confidence must be brought back among investors. That’s not difficult. It just needs good speaking. We need good ministers in Railways, coal, petroleum, power. Our regulators haven’t performed well. If The Governemnt promises that it will select on merit and regulators will be given independence, these things can make a lot of difference in governance. We need to open up defence production, we import $ 10 billion worth of defence equipment, they can be made it India.
S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India: “The new government needs to deliver a lot on expectations. Most importantly, the government must ensure that growth rate is back on track, touching a figure of 7 – 8 percent. Right time-bound decisions need to be taken to reignite economic growth. And it should usher in an environment of ‘making it easy to do business in India’ to both domestic and international players.
"While the Indian population has access to innovative computing devices running on cutting edge technology, we still lag behind in internet penetration and broadband connectivity. Convergence and broadband technologies have been recognized world over as the key technologies for economic growth and development. Also, the next generation network and broadband technologies greatly influence business productivity, social transformation, and bridging the digital divide."
Ajay Shriram, President, CII: The outcome of the General Elections reaffirms India’s vibrant and dynamic democracy and would greatly help to revive growth and investor sentiments. CII has worked closely with NDA in its previous term in Government as well as at the State Governments. We extend our full support to the new Government and greatly look forward to engaging with its leaders including Shri Narendra Modiji in the next five years.
The economic reforms agenda can be taken forward with a stable political dispensation and a multidimensional tool-box of policy instruments is required to kick-start growth. With prudent macroeconomic management, CII expects that the economy could recover to 6.5 per cent GDP growth rate in 2014-15 as against an estimated 4.9 per cent in 2013-14. Continued reforms could take GDP growth rate to 8 per cent level in three years.
Tulsi Tanti, Chairman Suzlon Group: “As we usher in a new progressive era, the Suzlon family extends its heartiest congratulations to Shri. Narendra Modi and his team for their vision and ability to bring in a clear mandate. We at Suzlon remain confident that the new government will steer our nation into prosperity with good governance & development in the coming period.
We believe the BJP led government will provide an environment conducive for growth & investments, with major reforms in infrastructure & renewable energy sector. This is important as India’s economic environment will act as a catalyst in reviving the global economy.
I sincerely extend my best wishes to the new Government."
Ashishkumar Chauhan , MD & CEO , BSE Ltd
"BSE welcomes the absolute majority mandate given by Indian public to Shri Narendra Modi led Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The win comes at a time when India needs a stable, pro development and a decisive government. It is apparent that such a result has increased the confidence in the country’s Future Prospect with the S&P BSE Sensex crossing the 25000 mark. This Election was only a small hurdle for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) who is now tasked with the monumental job of reviving the Investment cycle.
Xerox India, MD
Rajat Jain, MD, Xerox India said that corporate India was looking forward to a decisive government that can fast forward the process of reforms.
These reforms are to do with simplifying the processes in doing business in India- easing fiscal situation and tax issues, FDI in multiple sectors, more banking licences and creating an ecosystem that makes India an investment friendly destination as well as create more jobs for the youth, he added.