UP forms panel to wean away US, South Korean and Japanese firms from China

PICUP chief to head panel, dedicated email IDs created to address issues raised by investors from each of these countries

In order to woo global investors in the backdrop of reports of top corporations looking to exit China following covid-19 outbreak, the Uttar Pradesh government has set up a dedicated panel to facilitate investment from the US, South Korea and Japan.

This comes in the wake of a slew of measures being taken by the Adityanath government to reboot economic and industrial activities post-lockdown.

UP infrastructure & industrial development commissioner (IIDC) Alok Tandon has constituted the panel, chaired by the Pradeshiya Industrial & Investment Corporation of UP (PICUP) managing director, with NOIDA additional chief executive officer (CEO) and two officials of state industry interface Udyog Bandhu as nominated members.

Tandon said the panel has been set up in view of covid-19-induced global investor sentiment that is pointing to shifting of base by various companies out of China to other countries, especially India. “With competitive and progressive investment-oriented policies in place, UP is ready to welcome new foreign investment supported by labour reforms and sector-specific policy interventions.” 

Meanwhile, infrastructure and industrial development principal secretary Alok Kumar said the panel would function to attract and facilitate investment specifically from US, South Korea and Japan.

“UP has a huge potential for companies from these countries in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), food processing, automobiles, IT and electronics, auto-components, defence sectors and big infrastructure projects etc and this is the appropriate time to capture the opportunities generated under the present scenario,” he underlined.

Under this new mechanism, investors from South Korea, Japan and the USA will communicate their issues on three distinct email ids viz. southkoreahelpdesk@udyogbandhu.com, japanhelpdesk@udyogbandhu.com and ushelpdesk@udyogbandhu.com respectively.

These emails will be monitored by the panel members for speedy resolution under the overall guidance of senior officials of the state industrial development department.

Amid reports that global corporations are exploring opportunities to exit China, the Adityanath government has stepped up efforts to woo companies for investing in the state with senior ministers and officials interacting, over videoconference, with ambassadors of foreign countries, global business entities and representatives of companies.

So far, UP micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and export promotion minister Sidhart Nath Singh and other senior officials had interacted with a group of leading industrialists and investors of the US, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Recently, Singh had held a webinar meeting with the ambassadors of five countries, including Italy, Belgium, Denmark etc, apart from 74 members of the European Business Group (EBG) including Dow Chemical International, IBM India, KPMG India, Microsoft Corporation, Panasonic India, PepsiCo, Domino’s etc, to discuss investment opportunities and the recent policy decisions taken by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Meanwhile, EBG lauded the recent labour reforms undertaken by the state to address the challenges posed by the lockdown and the emergent need to create fresh jobs.