Headwinds are identified as factors that may slow the growth of the economy or a company. Amidst global headwinds that have slowed down the growth of various economies across the world, Ajay Piramal, Chairman of the Piramal Group, in conversation with Sourav Majumdar, Editor of Business Today at BT Mindrush said India has tailwinds. Explaining it further, Piramal said if you look at India, rather than headwinds, they are tailwinds. And there is a lot of positive interest in India today as many large investors want to invest here.
Explaining the reasons behind the tailwinds, Piramal said India managed well during COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Ministry of Finance and government, as well as the RBI, has managed the situation much better than what anybody expected. As you know, we did actually opposite of what most of the economists from the IMF, the World Bank said. For instance, we just did not give doles just like that. And you know, there was a lot of pressure in the beginning, if you remember, also, I think there was targeted giving of loans, whether it was to the MSME sector, whether it was to the small business as well as a bigger industries. India looked after the people who were economically backward by ensuring they got free food grains and direct benefit transfers. All that meant that the economy had done well," the tycoon noted.
Speaking further, Piramal added that headwinds which are global, whether it is in terms of the conflict between Russia or Ukraine, the issues with China that everybody talks about, despite the presence of these global challenges, India is well poised to overcome them.
“Even in Ukraine and Russia conflict, I think we played a very balanced role. And this means that the costs of energy and all have been kept in control. So overall, I think that we are in a better place and what I see when I meet many large foreign investors today, there is a lot of interest positive interest in India today. In terms of they do want to invest. Obviously, many things have to happen yet, but I think it's a good time," Piramal explained.
Acknowledging regulations and compliances as a hindrance, Piramal said that regulations need to come down. “If we can sit down together and bring down regulation that will be good," he added
He also added that the government is open to suggestions. “I've found that there are now opportunities to give these suggestions to them, and many of them are taken on board. So, it is a process. We were at one extreme, now we are moving towards the right direction," he said.