Government should ease the process of getting clearances for starting a new business: Anil Agarwal, chairman Vedanta Resources

Mumbai: Industrialist Anil Agarwal fielded for the efficiency of the private sector at running businesses and asked the government to ease the process of getting clearances for starting a new business to unleash the full potential of Indian businesses while speaking at the Economic Times Awards here on Saturday.

The founder chairman of Vedanta Resources, who had flown down from London where he resides for the Award show, said that it baffles him to see one private sector bank have $25 billion of market capitalisation while Canara Bank has only a fraction of that market capitalisation, despite both the banks having similar clientele. If the bank is privatised, the CEO and the board will be more answerable to the shareholders, he said, suggesting that this would improve the bank’s performance.

“Nowhere in the world does a democratic country run businesses,” he said.


Responding to the billionaire industrialist, Piyush Goyal, the minister of Railways and Commerce, said that the government is making a calibrated progress towards disinvestment from multiple sectors. The Prime Minister in every cabinet meeting says that the government has no business to be in business, Goyal said.

Further, Agarwal also questioned the practice of making corporates receive multiple clearances before starting a business. The government should make on the environmental clearance necessary to start any business and every other clearance, like income tax or excise, can be taken later, he suggested.

Calling this suggestion a rather good one, Goyal said that the government is willing to work with the industry to make it easier to do business. “But I'll need your support because (at) end of the day, you will have to help us understand what you have to go through, what's the path that you want to be simplified,” said the minister. “Let's work together, let's find a solution to what he said.”