To fast-track major steel and aluminium projects, nodal government departments should get the environment clearance on behalf of the developer. In an interview with FE?s Ronojoy Banerjee, the new president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) B Muthuraman said according to the current practice the industrial house has to run from pillar to post for getting environmental clearance which delays the project. He also voiced his concern on the increasing incidence of corruption and hoped that the government should have a clear and loophole-free law in place to deal firmly with the perpetrators.

At your first press conference after taking charge as CII president you said the industry chamber is going to voluntarily submit a report of affirmative action to the government every quarter. What has prompted CII to take such strong steps?

There has been a need for affirmative action for a very long time. In fact, it dates back to centuries where certain sections of society have not got the same kind of opportunities. But the difference between then and now is that earlier communications were not good as a result one did not realise the level of inequality. The modern era of TV, email, mobile has made the difference almost perceptible. The government has rightly started putting pressure to address the inequality. Industry has also started working on it. Over the last few years CII has done a lot of good work in this regard and we want to continue doing the same.

Will you be setting any internal targets for affirmative action among your members?

Yes. We would be setting some clear targets. In fact I am going to hold a meeting with members on May 9. There would be representatives from Dalit chambers of commerce as well. Before this we had discussions with them on how to increase their representations. What came out of these discussions is that they did not want reservation but needed equal opportunity. We are working with them to address various concerns and have a clear agenda in place.

In the recent past there have been instances of inter-ministerial rivalry on clearances. Do these issues concern industry?

It is a big concern. We need to explore ways as to how best to resolve this. For example, if you want to set up an aluminium smelter, then the responsibility of getting the environment clearance should lie with the respective ministry. As of now it is the industry that has to run around for clearances. If the respective ministry finds any fundamental problem with the project then it should be clearly communicated to the industry. Unfortunately this does not happen and therefore projects get delayed.

The government has voiced concern on the number of multi-layered or step down subsidiaries that companies set up for routing their funds. In fact the parliamentary standing committee on finance recently proposed capping the number of layered subsidiaries to one. What is your view on this debate?

There should not be any cap on multi-layered subsidiaries. Today companies are truly global and require getting registered in whichever country they operate. The question that needs to be asked is what is the final objective? Is it to encourage growth and then find ways to control it? The government needs to find a way out of this. You can?t control the growth of companies.

Over the last one month we have been in the midst of a lot of heated debate on the anti-graft legislation. How big an issue is corruption to the industry?

Corruption is a big issue. Not just for the industry but also for the people at large. We must ensure that our corruption laws are simple and has no loopholes. The perpetrators should be dealt with very firmly.

A few years back a former CII president had raised the issue of political funding. Will CII look into this matter during your presidentship?

Political funding must be transparent. And yes we will perhaps have some discussions on that. However, there have been none so far.