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Reform process in India must be completed in coming five years: Arvind Panagariya
Apr-22-2019

In order to create decent jobs for the masses as well as give serious thought to privatising the public sector banks (PSBs), Arvind Panagariya, who had served as the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog from January 2015 to August 2017, has said that India must focus on growth of labour-intensive sectors. He also highlighted that the reform process must be completed in the coming five years.

Highlighting the priority areas, he said that India needs a clear focus on the growth of labour-intensive sectors such as apparel, footwear, furniture, kitchenware and other light manufactures to create decent jobs for the masses. He said ‘We need firms in these sectors that are globally competitive and capture the space in export markets that China has been quitting due to its high wages. This requires flexible labour and land laws and an ecosystem that is yet friendlier to large firms’.

Panagariya explained that one way to achieve this is to create Shenzhen-style Coastal Employment Zones (in China) that create zones of 500 square kilometers or more along the coast that are characterized by highly entrepreneur-friendly regime with respect to land, labour and international trade. He added ‘Eventually, we must extend this regime to other parts of the country as well’. He stressed that it is also time that ‘we gave a serious thought to privatising PSBs’. He also emphasised on the need for major reforms in the area of education, saying the Right to Education Act has wholly ‘neglected quality’.

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