Industry craved for liberalization, and it is with a bit of irony that we see this sector wailing about cheap imports coming in and causing an upheaval. It has happened to the steel, petrochemicals, manmade fibres, electronics and engineering industries in different forms and measures. Industry has failed to become globally competitive and is asking for protection in a regime where the WTO dictates breathe down ominously. Foreign investment has been quoted as being a panacea to all our ills. A solution must come from within.
Foreign funds can only complement, but never substitute the internal effort.
Unemployment has risen rapidly in the last three years as Indian industry has gone in for staff rationalization in a bid to reduce costs. To top it all, with pressure on the government to restrain its deficit, the axe has fallen on expenditure, which has aggrandized the demand problem. Industry can certainly not be too happy about the way reforms have turned out. The financial sector has not been spared too. Public sector banks, burdened with the legacy problem are in a quandary.