‘Waiving Farm Loans Is Never The Right Step’

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited Executive Vice Chairperson, Shobana Kamineni, who became the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) new president on 4 May, believes that gender parity at all levels could give a shot in the arm to the gross domestic product (GDP). In an exclusive interview with Taniya Tikoo and Kshitiz Mohan, Kamineni shares her views on the GST, farm loans and what the CII is doing for the so-called Aam Admi of the country.

Kamineni feels that the 10 per cent growth in GDP is an achievable target and that a lot of jobs could be created in both the organised and unorganised sectors, with training in skills. The CII, she says, is not a lobbyist, but a development forum. Edited excerpts:

India hopes to see its GDP growing at 10 per cent over the next three years. Which sectors are likely to witness the highest growth in jobs when that happens?
We have a three-year horizon on that. The number one sector that I have enumerated is the construction sector. In country after country, that is the sector that provides less skills and enough paying jobs.

As you move up the value chain, it would be retail, logistics, e-commerce, tourism and healthcare. I would not be surprised to see beauty and wellness in that list. These sectors will provide a large number of jobs across the country.

A large number of jobs will be created in developing content, social media and language-specific domains. These are all unorganised sector jobs.Basically, jobs will be created where we get better skilling.

So while we think there are a lot of opportunities for jobs, it won’t happen if we don’t have talent. We need to build capacity.

Do you see waiving farm loans as the right step?
It is never the right step. It puts a lot of pressure on the government and banks. The banks won’t reduce interest rates and remove liquidity. So fundamentally, it is not the right principle. I am sure there are other ways to support farmers, like insurance. But it is important to provide, as there are a lot of vulnerabilities.

What is your take on taxing farm income?
As much as 86 per cent of farmers make less than Rs 5 lakh, which is the taxable income and have less than two hectares of land. They will be untouched by that law. Keep it in the interest of parity and only tax a farmer if he is making more than Rs 10 lakh per year and can afford to pay taxes.

We talk of investments from other countries. Why are Indian private players hesitant to invest in their own country?
The fundamental reason is that private players have built up huge capacities. I sit on the board of Hero — they have plants in Rajasthan and Gujarat, where they have pre-invested. From 2017 onwards, the investment and capacity building was huge.

Then some amount of muted growth happened. Now it is all picking up, you will see the capacities closing. So, this fresh investment will start happening and you will see a rise in the growth.

You said that “participation of women in the workforce will lead to an increased GDP”. Does CII have a strategy for achieving this?
It is mandated by the government to have women in top leadership roles, but how far that is happening is the question. You have to see where the crop is coming from. It won’t grow on its own. Forget the top boards, look at the financial sector. How come there are as many women leaders as men (in the financial sector)? Because for years, we have had women in banking — because for years it was a safe profession for them.

Thus, the financial sector had a huge pool (of women) and that is how they could grow. You need the same generational shifts to happen in manufacturing. Now you will see so many women engineers, doctors, MBAs — and this pool will rise. And this is all happening. I am more worried about the average woman. What is her quality of work? How is she incentivised? What CII is doing through the women’s network, is to try and engage with them and encourage companies for parity of pay.

Getting to the top is secondary. The big concern is gender parity. How do we get them to become relevant and participate? That is the kind of parity that the CII looks out for. We have been working with Google, HUL, SBI, to give these women financial exclusion. There always have been a lot of models to help these women, but we are trying to bring it to scale. The government is also aligned with that.

Why do industry bodies have this anti - aam admi image? The CII and other industry bodies have a reputation for not doing too much for the common people.
Our theme has changed, as you can’t be a wealth creator without being inclusive and responsible. Industries today are way more bothered about the environment and CSR (corporate social responsibility). Now we engage way more proactively because we believe, ‘business can’t be at the cost of the world’.

That’s why I spoke of being inclusive and responsible. We are encouraging new people to get into business. Most people who work with us are ‘Startupreneurs’. We have a new sector of young Indians and women networks. If anybody can be inclusive, it’s the CII. The CII is a development institution. We are not a lobbyist, we look for development.

How can a body like the CII contribute to social causes, not counting corporate social responsibility?
We have skills and training institutes. The CII has contributed to social causes in the past and will keep on doing it. We have an institute for it in most states, and most success has come from skilling and training. That’s for the future of India.