UP in new avatar seeks investments

Plans to hold an investment summit, open doors to infra majors, revamp industrial policy etc

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government plans to open its doors to infrastructure majors, revamp its industrial policy, hold an investment summit and improve its ease of doing business ranking.

The state was also planning single-window facilitation for industry, sources said.

“There have been discussions WITH Satish Mahana, Uttar Pradesh's minister of industrial development, and Dinesh Sharma, the state’s deputy chief minister, over a consultative process for a new industrial policy. Chief Minister Adityanath also met industries representatives and assured them that the new government would work towards industrial betterment,” said an industry executive based in Lucknow.

Sources in the state government said the new policy would aim at building trust. “Safety and convenience for industrialists are the pivots of this new policy. Single-window facilitation will resolve many grievances companies had about previous governments in the state,” an official said.

The state is also trying to improve its rank in Ease of Doing Business. “Weeding out middlemen, reducing paperwork, digitisation of processes involved in acquiring approvals, and  registration of companies are being discussed,” said a member of an industry chamber.

Uttar Pradesh slipped to 14th position in 2016 in the central government’s Ease of Doing Business rankings from 10th place in 2015. The state was, however, mentioned among “aspiring leaders” to indicate investment and business potential.

The state government is also planning an investment summit on the lines of Vibrant Gujarat, which many other states undertook after the BJP came to power at the Centre. Sources said one round of meetings with potential investors had taken place and another was expected shortly.

“We are planning to hold the summit in six months. We will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate it,” an official said.

According to sources, the UP government also plans to seek help from Gujarat government that has organised Vibrant Gujarat Summits every two years since 2003. The last edition of the Gujarat summit was held in January 2017.

Some industry executives are, however, wary. “Uttar Pradesh has a history of souring investments. Be it the Jaypee projects or industry in Kanpur, they succumbed to political favouritism. It is too early to plan huge investments in the state,” said an executive with an infrastructure company.

Ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government have met infrastructure company bosses to allay their fears and prepare the ground for the investment summit.

This isn't the first investment summit in Uttar Pradesh. However, this would be the first occasion that the prime minister of the day will be attending a UP investment summit.

One of the earliest was organised by the then Narayan Dutt Tiwari-led Congress government in the state in 1989.

Governments headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav had also held investment summits, with his then lieutenant Amar Singh playing a key role to organise the summits.

Though previous summits have not yielded significant gains to Uttar Pradesh. During the Mayawati regime in 2008, a summit was held but no investment agreement was signed. 

During his chief ministerial tenure from 2012 to 2017, outgoing chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also held roadshows in Mumbai and Dubai, and an investment summit in Agra in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry in 2015. It attracted Rs 30,000 crore investment on paper. Any project is yet to come on ground.