ACTIVITY REPORT 2016-17 BUILDING NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS BUILDING NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS Activity rePORT 2016-17 Activity Report 2016-2017 2 President’s Review Looking Back in favour of open markets, defined an Indian firm as one which operates in the country as an Indian firm regardless of whether it was locally or foreign-owned, and avoided asking for sectoral concessions and incentives for industry in favour of ensuring the right business environment for all industry. The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee graced several key CII occasions with his presence. A highlight of the year was the joint presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Theresa May at the CII India-UK Tech Summit. We continued our strong engagement at the State level, partnering with State Governments for investor meets in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The CII theme of Building National Competitiveness focussed on six key sub-themes of Human Development, Corporate Integrity and Good Citizenship, Ease of Doing Business, Innovation and ur review of the past year is framed within a Technical Capability, Sustainability, and Integration Oglobal context of unexpected political shifts and with the World. a healthier world economy. With a Latest Estimate growth rate of 7.1%, India retained its position as Under Human Development, employment was a the fastest-growing large economy in the world, major focus area, and we brought out a strategic in spite of the impact of demonetization. For report and established new Model Career Centres. CII, too, it has been a fast-paced year, with work In skill development, education and healthcare, across domains and geography, both domestic and we increasingly reached out to rural areas. The international. presence and commendation by the President of India at the CII Chhindwara Skill Training Centre The Government depends on CII across has only inspired us to broaden this work. departments and States, for both events and content. We engaged with the Government in The CSR initiatives of CII Foundation expanded, policy formulation and aimed always to present an especially for disaster management, sanitation objective industry-wide view. Notable issues that and gender empowerment. I am happy that the we took up included implementing the Goods and Foundation takes up multiple issues, enabling Services Tax such that it meets its single-market industry to partner in programmes for social objectives, reducing corporate income tax, setting development. up a fund for R&D and moving public research from autonomous Government institutes to higher For Corporate Integrity and Good Citizenship, education institutions, ease of doing business, we interacted continuously with industry on and sectoral and infrastructure policies. We did sensitization and awareness. CII’s new Compliance not always succeed in having our view accepted, Management Programme with GE and the but our input was always seriously considered. Indian School of Business aims to build a cadre Our policy stance broadly eschewed protection of professionals in this important domain. New Activity Report 2016-2017 3 sectoral codes in the healthcare and real-estate world. To realize our national potential, Indian sectors aim to improve sectors which affect every industry must play its part. We need to be more Indian resident. of four things – more ethical in what we do so we have complete credibility with Government and On Ease of Doing Business, CII gave inputs on society, more technology focussed as we invest simplification of administrative processes and more in R&D to build proprietary capabilities, more timely clearances as well as land acquisition and international as we build a thousand multinationals plug-and-play models of bidding. Our growing (and global brands) with Indian roots, and more engagement with the Government on Make in India collaborative as corporate citizens that work and programmes such as Smart Cities and Digital to include all 1.3 billion citizens in our growth. India, etc. is particularly noteworthy. I would continue to work on these areas in my future capacities in CII and I look forward to Indian Under Innovation and Technical Capability, industry meeting its global leadership potential. our aim was to raise the profile of innovation policy as a key national issue, learning from the Being CII President is a challenging assignment, successful industrial development experience of but a most fulfilling one. I have enjoyed almost countries from Japan to South Korea and China. everything I did this year, and that is thanks In Sustainability, our efforts continued in line with largely to the wonderful people one gets to work the Government’s Clean India and Clean Energy with - both across our diverse Membership and in campaigns. the Secretariat. Great learnings for me from the Past Presidents of CII who have been a constant Integrating with the world has long been an active source of support and encouragement. My special agenda for CII. The annual CEO missions to the thanks to those I had worked with as a team – UK, USA and Singapore were very successful and my immediate predecessors and my present witnessed increased investor interest in India colleagues - Ajay Shriram & Sumit Mazumder- - as did other visits to Japan and Hong Kong. under whom I enjoyed my “apprenticeship”. I Emerging markets were a particular focus as they much appreciate President-Designate Shobana present a huge opportunity for Indian industry to Kamineni’s constant support in all areas, and am be more active. Every place we went - including very grateful to Rakesh Mittal, Vice-President, Iran, Myanmar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and CII, who engaged actively with Membership and several countries in Africa we were assured of how services. The contribution of the regional chairs welcome Indian industry is, and how each country and the chairs of national, regional and State-level seeks us to be much more active there. Councils and Committees made the breadth of our achievements possible. I thank all of our Members Our Membership Services have always been top for their participation and support. of the agenda and the Mentorship Programme, Market Facilitation Service and Startupreneurs Forum are a few of our new initiatives. Our competitiveness building programmes delivered Dr Naushad Forbes tailored services to Members, especially MSMEs. President, CII (2016-2017) Indian industry’s agenda for the nation’s long term development is comprehensive. India has the opportunity to lead the world in the next decades as the world’s growth engine while building an integrated and inclusive society that attracts, welcomes and rewards talent from across the Activity Report 2016-2017 4 President Designate’s Report Looking Ahead hile critical macroeconomic indicators Wsuch as inflation and fiscal deficit remained stable, subdued investment activity continued to impair India’s potential growth. The impact of demonetization was muted, and industry and services are hopeful about revival of investments in coming months. The rapid progress on the Goods and Services Tax legislation was heartening. CII continuously provided policy inputs on matters such as coverage and tax slabs. As GST is rolled out, CII will assist in a smooth and efficient implementation of this landmark tax reform. Budget 2017-18 included several CII perspectives such as lowering of Corporate Income Tax rates and impetus to Government expenditure, which will help revive investments. We also worked on policy inputs for the Central and State Governments for Ease of Doing Business and investment facilitation. For the manufacturing sector, this was a busy year. The Government’s focus on Make in India was reflected in sectoral policies, where CII was a key contributor. The National Textiles, Apparel and Made-ups Policy came out with innovative steps such as fixed term employment and tax incentives, while the National Capital Goods Policy supports domestic content. Other significant policies brought out during the year include the national IPR, food processing and healthcare policies. CII’s Manufacturing Council developed the Champion Manufacturing Industries 2025 strategy by identifying key sectors where India can emerge as a global leader and outlining comprehensive actions. CII also worked with the Central and State Governments on Make in India investor meets across the country and overseas. The ‘Recipe for Excellence’ tool is an innovative online instrument brought out to help manufacturing firms benchmark their competitiveness. Activity Report 2016-2017 5 The MSME sector remained high on our priority Infrastructure activity remained muted due to the list with a range of new initiatives. The MSME rising level of non-performing assets with banks. Technology Facilitation Centre is a new programme We continuously highlighted the resolution of the conducted through the country, along with ‘twin balance-sheet problem’ as the Economic credit rating, insurance, and the MSME Finance Survey termed it, while also focusing on better Facilitation Centre. We continued to interact with PPP, regulation and financing terms. The energy the Government on redefinition of MSME under sector saw major shifts in policy as well as in the the MSME Development Act and other changes. ecosystem. The rapid rise of renewables and the India can only meet its development potential if the moderation in thermal energy is unprecedented. MSME sector is adequately empowered. CII’s interaction with the Central and State Governments