New FICCI chief against hike in interest rates

NEW DELHI: There’s no room for hardening of interest rates and the Reserve Bank of India should maintain status quo on the rates to allow the industry to make fresh investments, Rajan Bharti Mittal, newly elected president of industry body FICCI said.

“Fresh investment announcement have begun across sectors and further increase in interest rates will only hamper economic growth,” Mr Mittal said.

The government should promote investments in small and medium enterprise segment by increasing credit availability and continuing with fiscal stimulus measures, he said.

Mr Mittal, part of the promoters behind diversified Bharti Group, who took over the reins of Ficci from JK Paper’s Harsh Pati Singhania last week, also called for increasing foreign direct investment cap in sectors such as retail, insurance and defence.

Besides FDI reforms, he said the industry body will focus on areas such food security, investment in infrastructure and internal reforms during the next one year. “We would work on forward movement in governance besides reduction of transaction costs of business through simplification of rules and regulations,” Mr Mittal said.