Bangalore, July 6: Stating that volatility in currency will hurt business, leading industrialist Rahul Bajaj has said depreciating rupee can ultimately be taken care of by reducing imports and increasing exports.
"I don't like volatility, as business cannot function, import export cannot function if there is volatility in rupee. So stop volatility;.....Depreciation can ultimately be taken care of by reducing imports and increasing exports," Rahul Bajaj told reporters on the sidelines of Confederation of Indian Industry National Council Meeting.
Indicating Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as temporary mechanisms to arrest depreciation of currency, he said volatility has to be controlled.
"FII will come in today will go tomorrow; If you are bringing in FDI, bring it for right reason. Now because of CAD Current Account Deficit you want FDI, I don't agree with that," he added.
Commenting on the approval of food security bill as a populist measure at the time of elections he said "My desire is- poor should be supported in the country like India, but targeting has to be accurate."
"We all know there is tremendous inefficiency and corruption in the public distribution system," he added.
CII's national council meeting at Bangalore was attended by industry captains and CEO's of prominent companies in the country.
Addressing the meet, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah said the state has positioned itself as an ideal investment destination in the country and the government's focus is on encouraging industry and services sector.
"In our state the manufacturing sector contributes little less than 25 per cent of GDP and services sector contributes to 59 per cent, apart from creating huge employment," he said.
Stating that the state government has proposed to establish NIMZ (National Investment and Manufacturing Zone) in Tumkur district, the Chief Minister said "We have obtained approval from Government of India for this in about 12000 acres near Tumkur." "We are also trying to get approval for two more NIMZs at Gulbarga and Kolar," he added.
Also establishing ITIR (Information Technology Investment Region) near Devanahalli in about 10,000 acres to give further boost to growth of IT sector in the state is in the pipe line, he said.
With regard to development of rural infrastructure and simplification of investments in tier II and III cities he said "Government would like to pursue initiatives relating to cluster approach in the state, especially in districts like Belgaum, Dharwad, Hubli and Mysore."
Chief Minister also stated that the state government has taken up several power projects and is also encouraging several private power companies, to make Karnataka a power surplus state by 2017.
"I strongly believe the LNG Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline will help us to bridge the demand supply gap," he said.
