00:00Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. We are, of course, discussing the Prime Minister's address to the nation just a short while back.
00:09He was speaking about the mega GST exercise that takes effect tomorrow with the onset of the festive season, especially in Navaratras.
00:16The Prime Minister stated that this exercise is going to give a boost to consumption, especially as far as the new middle class is concerned.
00:23It will increase their purchasing power, thereby empowering MSMEs, empowering companies, and, of course, it will give a push to investment in the country as well.
00:32And to decode what the Prime Minister stated and about this mega GST bonanza, we're now joined by N.R. Banu Murthy and Mohan Guruswamy.
00:41Mr. Banu Murthy is a professor at the Madras School of Economics. He's the director, I beg your pardon, at I.M. Rotak.
00:48And Mr. Guruswamy is an expert commentator. He's a writer in politics, economy, security, and distinguished visiting fellow.
00:56Let me come to you, Mr. Guruswamy. The Prime Minister also spoke about manufacturing, how manufacturing in India, that needs to be given a push,
01:04and we need to not just make in India, but make for the world.
01:07Now, as far as India's manufacturing story goes, we have PLI schemes at least for 14 sectors.
01:12Some, in the case of electronics, for instance, they have done exceedingly well, others not as much.
01:19What more does the government really need to do if it wants to become a manufacturing powerhouse of the world?
01:26Well, first of all, you have got to get the footprint of the government on industry, on investment.
01:31It's still, in Prime Minister himself, alluded today in his talk about the number of regulations that are coming to place and impede fast implementation of ideas.
01:44But first of all, you have got to get the macroeconomic situation back.
01:48If your savings rate is coming down, if your household savings is coming down, taxation is coming down, foreign direct investment is coming down.
01:58So where is the money going to come for investment, going to plan for investment?
02:03Allowing a GST cut, is there a drop in consumption?
02:08Have the number of motorbike sales come down, the refrigerators come down?
02:12There's no indication of that.
02:13Popular profitability is still good.
02:16So you're addressing the wrong issues.
02:20At the time, you should be addressing other things.
02:22You should be looking at boosting investment.
02:24And we still haven't opened up our economy fully to foreign investment.
02:32And why is foreign investment coming down?
02:35Why is MDI coming down?
02:38It's been happening for the last two years.
02:41And suddenly, the American H-1B visa thing is not something which is such a big shock that, you know, we have to suddenly wake up and say we've got hit very badly.
02:53We've been hit badly for the last two years now.
02:56The growth rate has been coming down.
03:00So I think we need to get a holistic view of what's happening in the country.
03:05And, you know, the kind of expenditures the government has been incurring.
03:14And, you know, and see that we invest more in infrastructure.
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