Saurabh Gupta | 03 Mar, 2010
Stimulus should continue for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), says Rajan Bharti Mittal, the newly elected president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.

On the issue of continuing the stimulus package to SMEs, new FICCI chief said, "I think small and medium manufacturing units and exports require stimulus and should maintain for a while."

During the press meet, Mittal loud for making India a leading manufacturing hub, which will help in promoting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). He said, "We will focus on making India the global investment destination with a target of USD 75 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) by the year 2015, making India a leading manufacturing hub."

He also said, "During my tenure I would also like to focus on internal reforms, beyond governance, to make Indian business more competitive and more effective."

"Governance is a key area that this country desires and requires; some bold steps we have to be made for longer term growth. We will engage with the state governments to encourage internal reforms with in the states because the action is in states now."

"I would say that it is required to bridge the gap between the rules and red-tape-ism. If we have one single window that will help and enhance MSMEs to look from outside inside," he added.

When asked about the decline in exports due to economic slowdown, he said, "We are looking at the exports as a big chunk that will happen only with the fundamentals that we talked about. Unless we have infrastructure, manufacturing hub, clean governance, reforms, etc. we can not achieve growth in exports also."

"The Indian economy is set to grow by 7.5-8 per cent in the current fiscal, while growth is expected to be 8.5 per cent in 2010-11," he added.

At the conclusion of its 82nd Annual General Meeting held in the national capital, on Saturday, Rajan Bharti Mittal, the Vice- Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises took over as the President of the industry chamber FICCI, succeededing Harsh Pati Singhania, Managing Director of JK Paper.