India Inc. hopes for business friendly Kejriwal government

New Delhi, Dec 28 India Inc. congratulated Arvind Kejriwal on assuming the chief ministership of Delhi Saturday and hoped his Aam Admi Party (AAP) government would be industry-friendly and focus on governance and efficiency.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said it would work with the new government in areas such as employment creation, skill development, women’s empowerment and infrastructure development.

“CII looks forward to a strong partnership between the state government and industry,” said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

“CII is confident that the new government would be industry friendly and strengthen Delhi’s pre-eminent position both economically and socially,” he said.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said the new government could deliver on its promises of reducing power and water tariff by focusing on improving efficiency.

“Ideology doesn’t really matter as long as results are delivered. We feel that though the promises made by it may look tall, they can still make a good economic sense if the objective of reducing power tariff, for instance, is achieved by bringing in operational efficiencies,” said the chamber’s president Rana Kapoor.

“Over 30 percent electricity is lost in the transmission which can be reduced by investing in state-of-the-art equipment,” Kapoor added.

Congratulating the new government, Kapoor said: “For the industry, there is no better business potential and sense than empowerment of people, especially at the bottom of the pyramid. To that extent, we certainly share and applaud the goals set by AAP.”

Mahindra and Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra termed the taking over of power by AAP as a “transformational” event for the Indian democracy.

“Many countries still struggle to define democracy. Our remarkable country has voted into power in Delhi a party standing for honesty and humility,” Mahindra said on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

“This is a brave experiment that India should rightfully take global centrestage for. Time to suspend cynicism and give it a chance,” Mahindra said.

“Defining moment in Indian democracy as Kejriwal takes oath as chief minister of Delhi. True power of the people manifests itself,” said Vijay Mallya, chief of UB Group.