The global economic growth, which is on the upswing, will prove beneficial to India in the next two years, industry body CII said on Thursday.
"Global economy is on a recovery path, and I expect synchronised global growth to be witnessed here," said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice chairman of Bharti Enterprise and Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) new national president-elect.
"Global protectionism and rising food prices are some of the risks that I see. US shale oil prices are expected to stabilise, going ahead," said Mittal. US is likely to ship shale oil to India at a rate cheaper than the landing price in India for Iranian oil.
Citing risks to an IMF projected 7.3 pc growth rate for India's GDP, Mittal said, "Low private investment rate has remained a deterrent to growth."
"It is the right time for the industry to invest. India's rate of investment in R&D of 0.03 per cent of GDP, is very very low," said Mittal, urging industries to step up on investments and jobs.
Mittal complimented Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Modi government for the implementation of the GST and the E-Way bill system. "The system still needs to be tweaked and perfected. But power, petroleum, alcohol and real estate also needs to be in the GST ambit," he said.
Mittal further said the 'pains' of 'bold reforms' like demonetisation and GST was borne by the small and medium industries. "The transition to formal economy is not easy for small and medium sector. We must handhold them for better transition," he added.
CII's new president-designate, seasoned banker Uday Kotak, said financial services sector is growing despite apparent challenges in the banking sector. With growing digitisation, "security and privacy will become two larger issues for future," he added.
Kotak said power of regulator for enforcement vis-a-vis power of state as shareholder has issues for the banking regulator. "Indian (banking) regulation has depth and ability to supervise the system. Globally, too, regulators face new challenges," Kotak added, replying to questions later.
RBI Governor Urjit Patel had earlier rued the lack of powers with the banking regulator for taking effective roles in bank governance issues that had surfaced recently with PNB and ICICI bank among others.