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STATE INDUSTRY SECRETARIES MEETING CONVENED ON 30th OCT TO DELIBERATE ON WAYS TO ACCELERATE INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT

Date : 27 Oct 2009
Location : New Delhi
 

          Industrialization is considered to be the prime engine of economic growth due to its significant role in value addition and national capacity building. While India has now become one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it does not rank so favourably in terms of assessments regarding ease of doing business. To the extent we are able to improve the business environment; we would attract greater investment, generate more employment and achieve higher growth rates. 

Since there are several areas of industrial development which fall within the purview of the State Governments, the Dept. of Industrial Policy and Promotion has been conducting meetings from time to time with the States. A number of valuable suggestions for promoting industrial growth emerged from these discussions.  These meetings were also followed up with a detailed study of 17 Indian cities with respect to licensing and clearances required for starting and operating a business in India (Doing Business in India 2009),  and the launch of the eBiz project to create a one-stop portal for offering investment related services. 

To build upon the earlier discussions and initiatives, and to accelerate the process of industrial reforms in India further, a conference of State Industry Secretaries is proposed to be held on 30^th October, 2009, in New Delhi. The meeting is being convened in the backdrop of a recently commissioned study by the World Bank on ‘Doing Business (DB) in India’ comparing major Indian cities in terms of ease of starting and operating businesses.  The study shows that while overall there is a need to simplify and reduce our regulatory procedures, there are a number of best practices developed by different states which can be replicated without much difficulty and without significant allocation of resources. According to the study, if each state/city were to adopt the best practices available within the country, India’s rank would improve by as much as 55 positions in the global ranking. This would have a significant impact on the global perception of India as an investment destination. 

RJ