Election manifesto watch: Congress 'quotas' rattle India Inc

India Inc is worried about the Congress party's election promise to extend job reservation to the private sector as the move would adversely impact the competitiveness of industry.

"We will discuss the issue with the Congress party because we believe that at this point, reservation in the private sector will impede the competitiveness of our industry," CII president Kris Gopalakrishnan told journalists on Wednesday.

Hero MotoCorp joint managing director Sunil Kant Munjal said industry has played an active role in affirmative action. "What industry has objected to is reservation in the private," he pointed out.

Maruti Suzuki chairman R.C. Bhargava told MAIL TODAY, "Quota in private jobs is fine but it should not affect the competitiveness of Indian industry... If quota in private jobs is implemented arbitrarily, it would hurt the competitiveness and growth of Indian industry."

According to sources, while India Inc does not expect reservation to come through easily, it is worried that once an announcement is made, it put pressure on the government to work for its implementation.

Captains of Indian industry are always very guarded when it comes to criticising the government.

The business chambers also issued statements that praised the Congress manifesto for proposed tax reforms, and the welcomed the move to promote inclusive growth.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) said the manifesto provides an aspirational vision on many key concerns facing the economy. "Inclusive growth is an imperative. However, the wide variety of rights must be only based on sound economic health of the country," president Sidharth Birla said.

Venugopal Dhoot, chairman and managing director, Videocon Industries, said, "Reservation has been part of Congress manifesto during earlier elections as well. We had earlier discussed with the government for initially having fiveper cent quota in the private sector and then gradually increasing it to 20 per cent. However, reservation in private jobs must be limited to the rank of deputy managers," he added.

In association with Mail Today