Uttar Pradesh: Senior bureaucrats tasked with attracting investment

Taking a leaf out of the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the Uttar Pradesh government has tasked senior bureaucrats with attracting investment and improving the credit-deposit (CD) ratio.

 

This will allow IAS officers in UP to earn positive entries in their annual confidential reports (ACRs) on the basis of the investments they bring in.

 

According to UP chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, the move is aimed at instilling accountability in the bureaucracy and nudging them to garner investments and boosting credit off-take.

 

Since UP is aspiring to become a trillion-dollar economy, the Yogi Adityanath government is toying with innovative ideas to achieve the ambitious target.

 

In UP, there are 18 administrative divisions and 75 districts at present.

 

Singh said the UP government is trying to create a precedent of factoring officials’ performance in the matrices of investments and CD ratio in ACRs.

 

“This unique approach will hold the district magistrates (DMs) and commissioners accountable for their efforts to promote investment, and promote a climate of economic growth,” Singh recently said.

 

The new framework will be set in motion this month to catalyse the investment for district-level development and infrastructure projects.

 

Under the proposed policy, district officials will actively promote business facilitation measures such as investor safety, land allotment, ease of doing business and single-window clearances, among others.

 

At the state level, the respective IAS officers’ performance will be monitored against various parameters. This, in turn, will reflect in their ACRs, and have a direct correlation on their promotions and growth prospects.

 

Owing to a rapidly-improving business climate and pro-industry policies, the CD ratio of UP has shown consistent improvement over the past 6-7 years.

 

Against a CD ratio of 47 per cent in 2016-17, the figure touched 60 per cent in 2023-24.

 

Now, the Yogi government is aiming to achieve a CD ratio of 65 per cent by the end of 2024-25.