India has lot of potentiality for growth; govt needs to further improve ease of doing business, says Hinduja Group Chairman GP Hinduja

India is the best country with a lot of potential for growth, and the government should work on further improving the ease of doing business, according to Hinduja Group Chairman Gopichand P Hinduja.

The Hinduja family head is confident about the potential of India and firmly believes it will become the third-largest economy in the world by 2030.

"At the moment, the best country with a lot of potentiality and growth is India, and it is well protected and secure. "India will do the best. I was the first one when I said in 2019 that India will be the third largest economy in the world, and it is going in that track," Hinduja told PTI.

Hinduja (83) suggested that the Indian government should focus on quicker implementation of policies and projects by expediting the process.

"The vision of the Prime Minister is good. The implementation is also happening, but if they expedite the implementation and make it easy to do business, you will find India moving much faster and quicker," he added.

Hinduja suggested the Indian government to form a committee with representations from the corporate side to remove the bottlenecks for speedy implementations and improve ease of doing business.

"They should form a committee and keep some good business people also to have their views and thoughts to see where the obstructions are and how to ease them," he added.

According to him, the ease of doing business in India for foreigners is still "not easy". "The local ones, they know the system, they know how to handle it, but foreigners when they come, they get stuck," he said.

When asked whether Hindujas will play a role in investing in big-ticket infra projects in the country, Hinduja said: "If we get good opportunities, good team, good partner, good management, yes, we are investors. We have no restrictions".

Last year, India had jumped 14 places to take the 63rd position on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking, figuring among the top 10 performers on the list for the third time in a row.

While referring to the global crises such as the Russia-Ukraine war and recent turmoil in the Middle East, the Hinduja family head said India has a much better potential.

"If you look at Islamic countries, there is a feud. If you see the US, there is a problem between China, Russia and the US. Our instincts are that India has a much better potentiality," said GP Hinduja.

When asked about the global economy facing macro headwinds, Hinduja said at the moment, it is "in a problem". "So, it may be stagnant, or it may grow very slow, but it will go on," he added.

Hinduja group is one of India's diversified and transnational conglomerates. Its market capitalisation from listed companies is USD 21 billion.

On the possible impact on India's energy security amid the crisis in the Middle East, Ashok P Hinduja, who is the Chairman of Hinduja Group of Companies (India) said: "I think India is well protected. They have maintained excellent relations with most of the countries".

"India has succeeded in getting discounted oil from Russia despite sanctions. With China also, they have established their mandate," Ashok Hinduja, who is also the Chairman of IndusInd International Holdings Ltd, said.

However, he said, there may be some impact if it becomes a global economic problem. Some state governments face liquidity problems because of populist measures, which affect the projects there, Ashok Hinduja added.

This happens in states, where there are policy conflicts between the centre and state governments and are ruled by different political parties, he noted.

At the end of the day, economic projects get affected as they are not being paid by state governments. This has a cascading impact as it increases the NPA of banks, and investors get bad names, he added.

"So, that some system has to be worked out, that they are well protected for their investment, irrespective of any state they go to," Ashok Hinduja suggested.

Hinduja Group's business spans several business verticals ranging from industrial manufacturing to information technology-enabled services (ITeS).

The group owns companies like Ashok Leyland, Gulf Oil Lubricants, IndusInd Bank, Hinduja Global Solutions, Hinduja Technologies, NXT Digital, and Hinduja National Power Corporation.

Besides, the group, through its subsidiary Gulf Oil, is the single largest shareholder in NYSE-listed Quaker Houghton – a global leader in metalworking fluids.

It also has a significant stake in Swiss company MindMaze, which specialises in using virtual reality for faster rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders.

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