The stimulus package rolled out by the government to beat the impact of the economic slowdown should continue for two more years, said Piramal Healthcare director Swati Piramal, who took over as the president of Assocham on Tuesday.
“The stimulus has really worked well. The
double-digit growth in industrial production reflects the impact of the measures, and these should be continued for another one or two years,” Piramal said.
She also called for a 50 basis points reduction in repo and reverse repo rates, to 4.25 per cent and 2.75 respectively.
Repo is the rate of interest at which banks borrow funds from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while reverse repo is the rate at which RBI borrows from banks.
RBI has indicated that interest rates may go up amid inflationary pressures.
Piramal, the first lady to head an industry chamber in India, called for quick disinvestment of profit-making PSUs to help soften interest rates.”
She also felt that the contentious Minimum Alternate Tax proposal should be dropped as it could hurt companies that invest heavily and register no profit in the first 10-12 years.