Not Concerned About Domestic Demand As Progress Is In Right Direction: Ficci President

A day after the Reserve Bank of India pointed out that private investment is lacklustre on account of subdued corporate earnings, questions on the dissonance between capital expenditure from private players and domestic demand arose.

However, Mahindra Group Chief Executive Officer and Ficci President Anish Shah said he is not concerned regarding demand, as progress is being made in the right direction.

Shah also pointed out that some industries reached higher capacity utilisation and have started to put in capex, while sectors that have additional capacity available will also start to pick up. Giving an example, he said Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. tripled its auto capacity in the last four years.

"Therefore it's (domestic demand) not something that I would say we're really concerned about at this stage because we're seeing progress in the right direction," Shah said on the sidelines of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry's annual general meeting.

Talking on Mahindra's EV localisation plans, Shah said the conglomerate localised a large number of electric-vehicle parts. It is currently producing the entire battery pack in-house. However, the cells are imported and localising them is a work in progress.

As Ficci's head, Shah added that the industry body has specific targets to hit over the next three years. "We aim to hit 30% penetration in electric vehicles and 80% in electric three-wheelers."

He added that 'Make in India', women-led development, farm prosperity, and sustainability were among key focus areas. "India will target 5% of global manufacturing from the current 3.1% level."

Ficci also targets to increase workforce participation by 5% and skill 40 lakh women in the next three years. It will also target Rs 8-lakh-crore worth of agriculture exports, he said.