FTCCI’s interactive meet with Subhrakant Panda, President of FICCI held

Hyderabad, June 03, 2023: FTCCI held an interactive meeting with Subhrakant Panda, President of FICCI Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, who spoke on Industrial Progress in India with a special focus on Telangana on Wednesday late evening at Federation House in Red Hills.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Subhrakant Panda thanked FTCCI for hosting him.

‘You are one of the oldest and very active chambers and you are older than us. It is a matter of great privilege to be amongst you this evening. It is a matter of great pride that commerce and trade are an integral part of the history of our nation. Chambers like us, be it local or national help us to get all the stakeholders on a single platform for a common good.  It is a good development to see that there is a sectoral representation than representation by individual companies’ of what is good for them, Subhrakant Panda said.

Speaking further Mr Panda said I agree with Mr. Srinivas Garimella, the committee chairman of FTCCI that the manufacturing sector needs a fillip. I too hail from the same background.  Manufacturing needs to contribute significantly.  Despite the best efforts in the last two decades, it stagnated at 15% in terms of contribution to GDP. On the other side, Agriculture which also contributes around the same accounts for 50% of employment.  The service sector is also doing well. But we will not be able to fulfill the aspirations of the youth of the nation without manufacturing coming into play, he added.

We all talk about demographic dividend as 65% of our population is youth. If we do not educate, and employ them well, the demographic dividend may turn into a demographic nightmare, he said. To ensure that the Manufacturing sector also must contribute significantly along with other sectors added Mr Panda. If you want to make India the factory of the world we must address demographic dividend, he emphasized.

As a President, one of my priority areas is SMEs and engaging them. To understand them better about their digitalization and sustainability challenges we commissioned a survey. Digitalization is important as it will ensure ease of doing business. Sustainability is important from the point of view of hand-holding on day-to-day challenges.  Sustainability is the way forward into the future.

We are more than happy to establish the connection and engage with regional chambers which need representation at the national level. We know your forte is local and ours is national. Let us work together, he said.

What I have noted from studies is that Telangana’s contribution to the national GDP has grown significantly.   With significant growth in agriculture and allied sectors, its contribution to the country’s GDP has steadily risen from 4.1 percent in 2014-15 to 4.8 percent in 2022-23, the FICCI National President added.

The Telangana government is looking after sunrise sectors like electrical mobility.  There is good and healthy competition between the states now.  The GST has opened a new era.  Each and every state is competing to attract investments, he added. ‘

From the position of the fifth largest economy, our country is going to be the third largest economy. And it is important how fast we reach that position and what will be our role in achieving that, he said

Giving his welcome address, Mr. Anil Agarwal thanked FICCI for maintaining close relations with State level chambers and it is our profound belief that the collective and combined efforts of national and state-level Federation of Chambers bring more fruitful results than when every Federation works in Silos.

FTCCI (founded in 1917) is 10 years older than FICCI (founded 1927) he said in a lighter note.

We are the apex body of industry, trade, and commerce for Telangana State and we represent the majority of State Advisory Committees of various Government departments such as Industries and Commerce, IT E&C, Electricity, Direct Taxes, etc. We have 21 expert committees headed by experts in the fields under which the Federation generally conducts various activities.

We have a strong team of GST and Direct Taxes experts and every year we submit pre-budget recommendations to the government and I must say that most of them are considered, Anil Agarwal said.     

I must reiterate the fact that Industry Associations have played and have been playing a very important role in making the business environment investors friendly. The efforts of various associations at National and Regional levels in convincing the government of the need to improve ease of doing business are showing results and we thank the governments at State and Union levels for their support to industry, Anil Agarwal added.

Speaking further, Mr. Anil Agarwal added that in  September 2023, India will be completing 9 years of the “Make in India” campaign. The FDI inflows doubled in the last 8 years with a reduction in compliance burden bringing down costs and enhancing the ease of doing business. The year 2021-22 recorded the highest-ever FDI at $83.6 billion. This FDI has come from 101 countries and invested across 31 UTs and States and 57 sectors in the country.

Significant initiatives introduced under Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Make in India programmes to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities and exports across the industries are showing results. For instance, India is recording the highest collection of GST Revenues month–on–month, and India’s exports touched $ 447 billion in 2022-23, the highest ever achieved, he added.

Srinivas Garimella speaking on the occasion said Telangana has really set off on pathbreaking and trailblazing in the last nine years since it was formed.  The GSDP has grown at the rate of 11.4% CAGR.  This is the highest in the country.  This has catapulted per capita income from 1.12 lakhs to 3.17 which is the highest in the country. In the first five years, the State Government focused on Agriculture because there were many suicides in those years.  Post-2014, we got over it.  That is because two drivers changed the situation and contributed to the growth of agriculture, one was Raithu Bandhu and irrigation. This helped Telangana state grow 99% in terms of Rice production.

Rythu Bandhu scheme is Farmer’s Investment Support Scheme.  It is a welfare program to support farmers’ investment in two crops a year by the Government of Telangana.  We have also grown in the industrial sector led by Life Sciences and Information technology. It is a known fact that 33% of World Vaccines requirements are produced in this state.  These are some of our growth stories. Manufacturing is sluggish, more or less on the lines of the national average which has remained static in the last three decades.  Telangana also remains the same.  One more area Telangana must do well is literacy, he said.  We both organizations must step to do something to increase growth in manufacturing, he said.

Mr. Arun Chawla, Director General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Representatives of FICCI Telangana State Council; Mr. Meela Jayadev, Senior Vice President; Mr. Suresh Kumar Singhal, Vice President; Ms. Khyati Naravane, CEO and  Members of Managing Committee & Past Presidents attended the meeting.