CII, YES Bank prepare Rajasthan industrial policy

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and YES Bank submitted a draft industrial policy to the Rajasthan government on Monday.

The state government had asked the CII's Rajasthan chapter to prepare an industrial policy that the state could use as a guideline. This was given during the Rajasthan Taxation Advisory Committee nine months ago. The CII then engaged YES Bank as a "Knowledge Partner" to prepare this industrial policy.

The policy aims at increasing Rajasthan's contribution to the country's GDP from 3.99 per cent to 5 per cent by 2015 and targeting the GSDP rate of 12-15 per cent per annum.

The policy aims to prepare a model suited to Rajasthan by addressing a gamut of issues that affect industrial investments in the state by capitalising on the state's strengths and ensuring rapid growth of its thrust sectors.

The policy also targets an industrial sector growth rate of 15 per cent a year by 2015 and double employment generation in industry by the same year.

Speaking on the occasion, RK Poddar, Chairman, CII Rajasthan State Council expressed satisfaction over the outcome of over six months of due diligence with involvement of large number of industrial members from all over Rajasthan.

Poddar informed about the series of discussions across the sectors and geographical spread to ensure a comprehensive policy document.

He urged upon the state government to translate recommendations into actionables and announce the new policy at the earliest.

He envisaged that the proposed policy would help in creating an enabling environment to generate investments and move Rajasthan up on the growth trajectory.

Rana Kapoor, founder and managing director and CEO, YES Bank said, "The objective of the policy is to put Rajasthan on the path of rapid industrial growth and economic development and to shift from being primarily an agricultural economy. The recommendations have been made to enable an increase in Rajasthan's contribution to National GDP from 3.99% to 5% by 2015."

Kishore Khaitan, convenor, CII Panel on Economic Affairs and Taxation said "It is well comprehended that industrial investment depends on several factors and all factors need to be addressed together in order for any policy to achieve the desired results.

This draft policy aims to prepare a model best suited to the state of Rajasthan."

Tushar Pandey, country head, Strategic Initiatives Government (SIG) added, "The policy recommends new initiatives to take advantage of the emerging opportunities both within and outside the state. The thrust sectors of tourism, traditional skills and handicrafts, minerals, stones, textiles, agriculture and a whole range of MSMEs have been addressed while making certain polices and other promotional recommendations to further boost these sectors."

Recommendations have also been made to create and maintain a friendly and conducive environment for industries. Some of these recommendations pertain to an effective and efficient single window system, high class infrastructure and a proactive information dissemination system.

An important recommendation was given for Integrated Industrial Townships (IITs). A number of recommendations have been made in the areas of human resource development, export promotion, FDI promotion, labour reforms, other promotional incentives and exit policy, among others.

A detailed survey was conducted by CII along with YES Bank Ltd in Rajasthan covering the cities of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Alwar, Bhiwadi, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Neemrana, Bikaner and Kota.

The research team interacted with different stakeholders including industrialists, entrepreneurs, government institutions and PSUs etc.

The participating firms represented a diverse spectrum of sectors. The last Industrial Policy of Rajasthan was prepared in 1998. It had envisaged development of clusters offering economies of agglomeration by focusing on thrust sectors, infrastructure, human resources and encouraging greater participation of private enterprise in the state's economic growth.

However, the policy is almost a decade old now and there have been a plethora of developments, economic and social, not only at the state level, but at the national and international levels as well, that need to be addressed appropriately and reflected in the new industrial policy.