Bhubaneswar: In an uncertain, complex and volatile global scenario, India needs to identify the bottlenecks and address the problems to ensure growth, Harun Rashid Khan, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday.
“There has been uncertainty in economic growth globally with problems besetting European banks, economic slowdown in China, and Britain mulling leaving the European Union. The question is can India remain an island of stability?” Khan said while addressing a national seminar on “Issues and Challenges in Business Management” at the SOA University here.
Khan identified seven problem areas beginning with the letter ‘L’ saying they reflected the constraints of investment and growth.
“Land, labour, laws, liquidity, learning, linkages and leadership were issues which needed to be dealt with as they held the key to economic growth. We have not been able to achieve what we have been aiming at because these issues need resolution,” he said.
He said though labour was cheap in India, it was not as cheap as in Bangladesh or as good as in China. While labor has remained a constraint, acquiring land was a huge problem. Besides, the entrepreneur had to cut through the maze of legal constraints and deal with huge sets of law to work.
Liquidity, on the other hand, posed a big problem in the absence of a vibrant corporate debt market while entrepreneurs needed to learn much more to start ups to happen.”We need much more than what is happening now,” Khan said.
Pointing out that infrastructure linkages, be it with mines, power or new roads, were vital for economic growth, he said entrepreneurial leadership needed to evolve to face the challenges of the day.
Recalling his visit to a steel plant in South Korea, Khan said he was impressed by a tagline at the entrance of the industry. It read: “resources are limited, but creativity is unlimited.” This must inspire the entrepreneurs to look ahead in spite of the constraints.
In his address, Dr N Jayasankar, Commissioner of Income Tax (TDS), Bhubaneswar, stressed on the need for enhancement of the corpus of human knowledge through research. “A lot of importance is given to information in India. But the need is for universities to collate and use the information by internalizing the same,” he said.
Prof (Dr) Amit Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor of SOA University, presided over the inaugural session which was held at the Institute of Business and Computer Studies (IBCS), faculty of management sciences of the University.
Dr Anup Samantaray, Dean of IBCS and Prof PK Swain, chief coordinator of the seminar also spoke.