The economic reforms brought by the Narendra Modi may take another 18-24 months before the accompanying investments led to creation of jobs. This is the sense of the industrialists, who debated the questions that the India's economy is facing.

Participating in a panel discussion on "Made in India: Ready for the World" at the India Today Conclave East 2017, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said Narendra Modi has taken efforts to bring a change in the way business was done in the country but still a lot needed to be done.

"A lot of measures have been taken by the government and that is being reflected in the confidence shown by the international agencies. Investment is coming but there is a time-lag between investment and investment showing results in terms of job creation," Goenka said.

Responding to a query about the change in working style of the current government over the previous one, Goenka said, "It is difficult to say but things are moving faster. Regulatory processes have got reduced. GST makes trade boundary-less."

"Things are getting faster. Investment will begin to happen soon. But for investment to lead to creation of jobs will still take 18-24 months," Goenka said.

Participating in the discussion, ITC chief executive officer Sanjiv Puri said that backlogs were accumulating 6-8 years ago and various projects were held up for various reasons while "now things are moving faster".

Puri also said that the ITC has set up three food processing units in Kolkata in recent times while another is being worked upon. "It is getting easier to do business now," Puri said.

Goenka further said that contrary to belief that large projects bring more jobs, it is smaller investments that employ more people. "We have an investment of Rs 6,000 crore where only 400 people are employed. Much more people are employed in smaller investment projects," Goenka said.

WHAT ELSE THEY SAID: THINGS TO KNOW

Responding to a query about Indian businessmen preferring investment abroad to India, Goenka said, "You need to be globally competitive. Investments are made considering higher returns."

On the question of land acquisition for industry both Puri and Goenka said that the governments should involve in resolving wherever there is an issue. "Several issues have been resolved but still few things need to be sorted out. For a large project, it is difficult for industry to procure land, say, 100 hectares or 500 hectares or 1000 hectares. The government should help," Goenka said.

"Divorce the politics from economics. If we don't do it, it would be difficult to do it to do (development that political parties promise," Goenka said in response to a query about the politics over land acquisition which makes the ruling party skeptical about interfering with the process of land acquisition.

Puri said that more state governments have now become involved in land acquisition as they understand the significance of large business projects. He said that many states have come up with the idea of land pooling for industry, which has worked well.

Both Puri and Goenka stated that GST was a right step in right direction. "Any tax that unifies the country and removes boundaries is good. I think GST is one such thing," Goenka said on a question of about Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's criticism of GST calling it Gabbar Singh Tax.

"It is still early days and there are teething problems. If 3-4 more months are given, things will iron out with regard to GST," Goenka said.

Puri said that he expected more pain from GST rollout. "Compared to the pain that I thought we would go through for such a large tax change, the GST rollout was smoother. Over time, the GST Council has brought necessary changes. We need to educate people. Mindset needs to be created for GST," Puri said.

On the issue of GST compliance, Puri said, "At the end of the day, we have to decide if we have to get to the formal economy from informal economy or not. We have to educate people that this is the only way we have to do business in future. I see no alternative to that."

Here is the full coverage of India Today Conclave East 2017.

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WATCH | India Today Conclave East 2017: Govt has taken lot of measures to ensure ease of doing business, says Sanjiv Goenka

Economy moving but it will still take 18-24 months before investment leads to jobs: Sanjiv Goenka

RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said Modi has taken efforts to bring a change in the way business was done in the country but a lot needs to be done.