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'Efficiency will increase with compact staff'

Tarun Das

If government staff is reduced by 90 per cent, efficiency can increase by 900 per cent. Seems drastic, but quite clearly efficiency will increase if there is a more compact staff.

With the Budget spelling out a steady reduction in people employed, the objective can be achieved.

It is a great Budget because the finance minister has initiated action on many fronts, like corporate taxes, indirect taxes, infrastructure, agriculture, government expenditure and downsizing of the government.

We can recover from a low growth rate of below six per cent and head back to seven per cent in 2001. The year 2001 will be much better, driven by fresh investments in infrastructure and manufacturing.

On the 180 per cent duty imposed on the import of used cars, second hand imported cars are not a good idea for the common man in India, as you cannot check how efficient they are in terms of energy consumption, pollution or any other technology.

The solution for the Indian customer is a small car made in India, especially since our technology standards are now on par with Europe. Duty protection is really necessary to avoid the wrong kind of products coming into the country and the Indian customer is suffering as a result.

We need to be clear about the direction we want to follow. Do we want to focus on old technology, old equipment and old products with limited lifecycles and higher costs in the long run, or do we want to concentrate on the new? In the medium and long terms, there is no question about focussing on the new.

Tarun Das is director general, Confederation of Indian Industry

Budget 2001

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