Officials in states continue to function like licence raj days, says Maruti Suzuki chairman
Maruti Suzuki India Chairman RC Bhargava said on Tuesday. Speaking at an event here, the veteran industry leader noted that the central government over the last nine years has been bringing in a series of reforms and improvements in the business environment.
He noted that the country has seen massive improvement in the rankings when it comes to the ease of doing business.
Besides, the government has also abolished over 1,000 old acts while initiating a lot of reforms in taxation as well, Bhargava said.
«All designed to make it easier to do business in India, and to be more competitive in manufacturing. Unfortunately, the results are not yet apparent,» Bhargava said.
He noted that the bulk of the interaction of manufacturers and entrepreneurs is with the state government officials.
«And in the state governments, the bureaucracy and the entire administration has still not changed the way the central government has changed,» Bhargava said.
He further said: «And there are lots of delays.
Time is not a factor which is valued highly by most people in the states. And the attitude of administration is very much similar to what it used to be in the licence and control days, that the job of the bureaucracy the job of the civil servant is to control rather than facilitate.
Besides, the entrepreneurs are also largely maintaining the mindset and practices which were developed during the licences and control period because in those days the private sector was not in a position to grow in any way or innovate because the licence laid down every condition of their functioning, Bhargava said.
