KTR asks India Inc to grill Centre

HYDERABAD: Industries and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao called upon industry bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to question the 'flawed policies' of the Centre on industrial and economic fronts. Rama Rao was addressing a CII event here on Wednesday. He said independent bodies like CII should not hesitate to question wrong policies of the Centre which were obstructing the growth of the country's economy and development.

He came down heavily on the Centre for sanctioning funds and projects to states on 'political grounds' and ignoring a progressive state like Telangana, which emerged as the fourth largest contributor to India's GDP within seven years of formation.

"The CII should ask the Central government why it is so when we manufacture more expensive items and import cheaper ones? What is this logic? On one side we talk about Atma Nirbhar Bharat and self-reliance and on the other side our policies are so flawed that even if we want to manufacture in the country, it's more expensive. How do you survive in this environment?” Rao questioned.

Pointing out that China and India's GDP remained almost equal till 1980s but China's GDP has exceeded India by six times in the past 35 years, Rama Rao said, "I have been requesting the government of India, if you want to compete with China, you need to think on scale.

China has large industrial parks. Why is size important? It brings down the cost of production. Today, Telangana is conceptualising a pharma city which is about 14,000 acres. We have already set up India’s largest industrial textile park in Warangal and we have been asking the Government of India to support us. First there is a policy paralysis in Delhi. They don’t listen. I am not saying that Investments are not coming. But they are not coming as much as they are needed."

"Today we are witnessing a war between Russia and Ukraine. I am sure many Indians have thought of this and so have I. What is our position on making our own missiles, our own defence systems and ammunition? About two years ago, the Government of India was conceptualising the defence industrial production corridor. I went to the then defence minister Nirmala Sitaraman ji and told her that the most logical destination for this to be was between Hyderabad and Bengaluru, because of the existing ecosystem. Hyderabad has a large number of defence PSUs and so does Bengaluru. So, it makes a great sense of deal to have this corridor between these two large cities. She said the decision was already made and it would be Bundelkhand. I want Uttar Pradesh to grow, but will it attract Lockheed Martin or some of the large aerospace companies? I asked her. But she said no and that the decision had already been made," Rama Rao said.

Stating that he had nothing against UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Rama Rao said, "For India to grow, support the states that are doing really well. I am all for supporting UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. I have nothing against them. I want them to do well.

But our policymaking has to be in sync with strengths. You can't say because Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats and Telangana has just 17, we won't do it here and that UP has Yogi and he is upyogi (useful) to the Centre and K. Chandrashekar Rao is in Telangana and he isn't useful to us, so we won't set up the corridor here. Telangana is also part of this country."