One of the best and most successful business summits in recent history of India, the event attracted business leaders from 42 countries and generated investment intents worth over Rs 5.62 lakh crore. The next edition of GIS will take place from February 16-17, 2019.
The state, since its inaugural Investors Meet in 2007, has seen an exponential growth in investment intentions by corporates as well as in the number of participants it received. In 2014, for example, ITIs worth over $65 billion were inked at the summit vis-à-vis about $43 billion in 2012, while the number of delegates more than doubled to over 5,000, from 2,250 in 2012.
Here are a few excerpts from the interview.
Q. Sir, you have said that the state of Madhya Pradesh will achieve a remarkable double-digit growth this year, through good governance and people friendly policies. Could you elaborate some more on this? And what are your plans to this model of growth inclusive?
A. With business-friendly policies and a skilled labour force, we aspire to become the growth pillar of Make in India. The growth is nothing if the common man is getting nothing anything out of it. I will ensure that people from all strata of the society are getting the fruits of our development. Madhya Pradesh, the heart of incredible India, is one of the fastest growing economies in the country. We are no more a Bimaru state and we will achieve our targeted figures in the current economic scenario.
Q. Your strategy to fuel agricultural growth helped revive the state’s economy. You linked the water-filled Narmada River with the water-scare Kshipra River. Could you shed more light on this topic?
A. Narmada river water has been lifted to a height of 350 metres using electricity driven pumps, after which it has been diverted to the origin of the Kshipra river which is around 50 kilometres away. The project has helped 3,000 villages and 70 towns of the Malwa region to acquire enough water, besides irrigating 16 lakh acres of land in the region. It is just one of the major projects executed. The strategy to revive the agricultural sector paid rich dividends. At an estimated population of 75 million, Madhya Pradesh is still predominantly a rural state. Almost 70% of the state’s population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture.
Q. Besides agriculutre, what are the other basic goals of your government?
A. The basic goals of bijli, sadak, paani (electricity, road and water) targets were achieved and now the goals are focused on growth and employment. The state has identified nine key sectors to fuel growth. The nine sectors are: Agri-business & Food Processing, Automobile & Engineering, Defence, IT/ITeS & ESDM, Renewable Energy, Pharmaceuticals, Textile, Tourism, and Urban Development. The state government is offering a slew of incentives, including providing land at lower than market rates, hefty concessions of VAT-CST, entry tax, electricity duty, and rebate in power tariff to attract industries. These apart, we have created a single window secretariat for investment facilitation, Madhya Pradesh Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation (MPTRIFAC), that allows prospective investors to apply online for various approvals required in the setting up of businesses in
the state.
Q. You are also offering compensation to investors if there is even a day’s delay in granting approvals.Is that correct?
A. We have set up a Single Table to clear the projects. Along with ministers and top officials I will take decisions on the submitted projects every Monday. If anybody responsible for the project is delaying it purposefully, he will be penalised and we’ll recover the compensation from him. Many manufacturing industries will be exempted from getting NOC from the pollution control board to avoid delays. We will also set up an “Invest Portal” for investors to monitor the progress of their proposals and every proposed investment up to Rs 50 crore will get a “relationship manager”. Land-use norms will be eased for semi-public and public ventures and IT, and the fees will be slashed.
Q. Could you talk about the fifth Global Investors Summit, held recently in Indore? What were the highlights of the event?
A. The event showcased the strengths and industrial prowess of Madhya Pradesh, and provided a platform for interaction with the state’s policy makers, bureaucrats, industry captains, investors, professionals and academia. Over 150 top CEOs and 3,000 delegates from across the globe attended. The CEOs who attended the GIS 2016 include G.P. Hinduja, Co-Chairman, Hinduja Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, Shashi Ruia, Chairman, Essar Group, Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance ADAG, Venugopal N Dhoot, CMD, Videocon Industries, Arun Bharatram, Chairman, SRF, Baba Ramdev, Founder, Patanjali Ayurved, Al Rajwani, CEO, P&G India, Sanjeev Puri, CEO, ITC, Naushad Forbes, Co-chairman, Forbes Marshall, and Rajinder Gupta Chairman, Trident Group.
The five foreign partner countries — the UAE, South Korea, Japan, the UK, and Singapore — were represented by H. E. Abdullah Al Saleh, Under Secretary, Ministry Of Economy — UAE, H. E. Hyun CHO, Ambassador, South Korea, H. E. Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador, Japan, H. E. Alok Sharma, UK Minister for Asia , Member of Parliament, UK, H. E. Muhammad Faishal, Parliament Secretary, Singapore.
Q. How supportive was the Central government towards the GIS summit?
A. The Central government was fully supportive of the initiative. We had emphatic addresses by the Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who were also the Chief Guests at the inaugural session. Besides Commerce, Industry & Employment Minister Rajendra Shukla, State Chief Secretary Anthony J.C. De Sa, and Commerce, Industry & Employment
Ministry’s Principal Secretary Mohammed Suleman, Principal Secretary Mr Sri Kanth Mishra were all present. Apart from the Investors Meet, the state also organised a three-day business exhibition to showcase and demonstrate Madhya Pradesh’s capabilities in design, engineering, equipment and supplies, and support services for large projects.
At the opening ceremony of the Madhya Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2016 held in Indore, Union Minister for IT and Electronics Ravi Shankar Prasad described Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the opening batsman of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Team India. He said, “Shivraj can play inswingers, bouncers and outswingers with equal ease.”
He drew the attention towards the business growth and changing role of state governments in helping shaping India’s economic landscape. He also praised CM’s efforts to support farmers as well as other sectors of the economy. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that 40 mobile manufacturing units are going to be set up in India — out of which one would be set up in Madhya Pradesh soon. Through this, India would be made self-reliant in electronic goods manufacturing. He also said that there has been an all-round development under the leadership of Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh.
Focusing over the ten-fold jump in investment made in India’s electronic manufacturing sector over the two years since the BJP government came to power, the Union Minister said, “These are exciting times under PM Narendra Modi’s leadership. And Madhya Pradesh is playing an important role in IT exports and electronics manufacture.”
One of the partner countries at GIS 2016, South Korea has also expressed interest in setting up an electronic goods manufacturing unit in the state.
“I am very happy that in this great journey of transforming India, MP has been and will continue to paly an important role,” he Prasad said.
The recently-concluded GIS 2016, organised by the government of Madhya Pradesh at Indore — the commercial capital of MP — was an attempt to showcase the business strength and industrial growth potential of the state. The meet was organised to provide a global platform for interaction with different industry leaders, policy makers, investors and other stakeholders across India and from other countries.
Calling upon investors to make greater investments in MP, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the valedictory function of GIS-2016 saying that those making investments in Vidisha would get “special benefits” as they would get her direct assistance. She said that her parliamentary constituency, Vidisha, falls within this state, and Budhni, the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, also falls within her constituency.“So, those making investments here will avail special benefits and the ministry helps the investors going to other states, but those investing in MP will get direct assistance from the foreign minister herself,” Swaraj added.
She stated that her ministry was undergoing transformation and apart from diplomatic functions, it was also acting as a catalyst to national development.
“It is also because of the changing role of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that an increase of 53% in FDI has been witnessed in the country. These foreign funds are going to the states,” she said.
Swaraj said that this was also the first time that the foreign ministry had taken upon itself the task to boost national development. “Never ever in the past domestic development was part of the MEA agenda,” she added.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, addressing guests at the Global Investment Summit in Indore, recalled that he needed a helicopter to travel the 250km from Bhopal to Indore for the elections in 2003. But the scenario has changed now, thanks to the remarkable development measures taken by the existing government of Madhya Pradesh. From being the bimaru state to being one of the most developed states in India is praise worthy. “That MP is able to attract large international and domestic investments today reflects India’s story. Like MP, India is too fighting adversity with confidence. Various industrial revolutions bypassed us in the past, but today, we are maintaining growth while the rest of the world is going through hard times.”He also said that the private sector needs to pick up pace with the government. He said, “Generally private sector remains ahead of government but today we are at such a historic moment of time that government is ahead of private sector and it needs to pick up pace with the government.”
He also congratulated the CM for implementing policies that helped in the agricultural growth. He said, “Whichever sates have seen double digit growth in agriculture have re-elected their CM.”
The finance minister said the government would emerge as a major beneficiary of GST in the coming years due to its location. “MP will become a supply hub for goods and services. It will make sense for companies to locate their inventory in the centre of the country,” he said.
