Mr Amin told The Financial Express after taking charge from Mr GP Goenka at Ficci that the issue of spurious products is also a serious concern for the industry which needs to be actively looked into by the government.

The apex chamber is working on a number of suggestions on the subject for the government's consideration. The sharp rise in sales tax and the incidence of excise duty has led to the emergence of spurious brands in the unorganised industry. There is a need to rationalise taxes and tax administration must be made more effective so that the unorganised sector and spurious manufacturers are kept under check, Mr Amin said.

"On top of my agenda is to restructure Ficci by inducting bright research-oriented people and strengthen our research capabilities as we cannot sit with mediocre or dud people. We cannot all the time follow the action-reaction model and need to be more proactive," Mr Amin said in an exclusive interview with The Financial Express.

"We, at Ficci, intend to improve the regional networking through active interaction with our regional members, as most of our members are regional where a lot of activity is happening. Ficci is already in the process of strengthening its office in Mumbai and two new offices in Chennai and Ahmedabad are likely to come up," he said.

"There is also a need to restructure executive committee meetings as most of the time we are running short of time," Mr Amin said.

He echoed his voice on the need for putting a fiscal responsibility on the various ministries and any over-exposure by the ministry should be forced to take a cut in the following year.

"At Ficci, there is scope for improvement in the response time to the government. We have to be responsive to the environment. During my tenure, I would try to speed up the process of getting feedback from the members and taking it up with the government," said Mr Amin.

He further said, "We intend to aggressively take up more and more events which will help Ficci generate higher revenues as well."

Referring to the increasing menace of dumping and smuggling of goods into India, Mr Amin said that protection to the industry through the imposition of various anti-dumping duties is no permanent solution. Chinese dumping, in fact, has brought to light that what ought to be done. Instead, the government needs to expedite the process of reforms and create a competitive environment. The government spending has to go up in infrastructure to bring in the feel-good factor.

The government should try to utilise the Indian corporates' strengths to the fullest in the field of research and development, information technology and biotechnology. For this, there is a need to create an environment, and like exemptions in the IT sector, there is a need to encourage research-based activities and genomics. The need for having a strong in-house R&D cannot be neglected for long and is a matter of concern for sustaining industrial growth and competitiveness.

The disinvestment process has to be intensified and there is a need to access the real cause for the delay in the process. The disinvestment process should be driven by efficiency criteria rather than fiscal deficit compulsions. This calls for a determined effort on the part of the government as well as sincere political will, he emphasised.

"There is a dire need to revive the sagging capital markets. There are hardly any public offering from the corporates and a number of projects could also be affected for the want of money. Corporates, in such a scenario, are not in a position to raise money from capital market."

As far as providing an environment to the Indian corporates is concerned, Mr Amin said that the duties on intermediaries need to be rationalised and no way can the import duties on finished goods be lower than raw materials.