Ease of doing business: Labour reforms remain just an intention

A look at ground realities as states are unwilling to deal with the political hot potato

In the huge circulation area of Mahatma Mandir at Gandhinagar capital of Gujarat, stands a series of tall billboards announcing actual investments made by marquee names in earlier editions of the Vibrant Gujarat summit. 

It includes Reliance Industries, Essar Group, Basf, Adani and 14 others. The total actual investment made by them in the state as a follow through of these events stands at a combined Rs 1,59,546 crore. The billboards also announce another data, which is quite sobering. The actual direct employment generated by these 17 manufacturing industries since 2007 in the state from those investments is just 92,357.