2021 is a watershed year for India: Kumar Mangalam Birla

Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla Friday said that 2021 has been a “watershed year” for the Indian economy after the reforms of 1991.

Speaking at the virtual annual session of ICC, Birla said that 30 years after the first wave of reforms in 1991, this year there has seen an investment boom in the country making India an economy of the size of USD three trillion.

“India is a fast growing economy with a diverse society. Since 1991, this year has been a watershed year with reforms like labour codes and fixation of legacy issues in telecom,” he said.

During the pandemic there has been deepening of the digital economy. “Consumption of data has increased manifold in India. Capacity installation of renewable power has received a boost”, he added

“It seems the government is doing all the right things. The ‘Gatishakti’ plan of coordinating ministries will be of great help to the economy”, he viewed.

According to him, the coming decade will witness a ‘capex’ boom by the private sector, government spending on infrastructure, release of funds through the asset monetization plan and improvement in the balance sheets of the banks.

Global investors are moving away from China and looking towards India, Birla said.

Birla, who is also the chairman of Vodafone Idea Limited, said that the telecom sector had been tough on the company. “There are several factors where we could have done better. Just a month ago we were almost bankrupt. Now things are looking better”, he said. PTI