Govt. Should Focus on Implementation of Policies and Projects to Attract Investments – CII North Chief

By 121 News

Chandigarh 06^th May:- The newly elected Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Northern Region (NR), Shreekant Somany emphasised  that the Governments both at  the Centre & States should focus on early implementation of policies, projects and reforms which would remove various procedural and other bottlenecks to enhance ease of doing business, which is key to attract both domestic and foreign investments in the northern region,while addressing the media to share the new theme of CII NR, at CII NR Headquarters in sector 31 A, here today.

He emphasised CII believes that various new initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Clean Ganga, Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana, plan for Smart Cities, can turn out to be real game changers, if implemented well. He further added that it is also very imperative to fast track the stalled infrastructure & manufacturing projects along with dedicated Industrial and freight corridors like AKIC, DMIC, western and eastern corridors in order to provide the much needed fillip to growth in north, which is otherwise landlocked and away from raw materials and ports.

He added that these corridors have the potential to greatly enhance industrial activity and emerge as game changers for growth and expansion of industries in the northern region. These corridors would immensely reduce the cost of transportation of raw material and finished goods, to north both from within and outside the country. A substantial part of these Corridors would pass through the region. Out of the total 1,839 km of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, about 1,209 km (65.7 per cent) falls in the northern region connecting the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the north to West Bengal on the east coast. Similarly, 50.2 per cent of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (about 745 km) falls in the northern region connecting the states of Haryana and Rajasthan to ports of Gujarat and Maharashtra on the west coast, which can be a boon for north.

 CII has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS) with the aim to improve India's rating on ease of doing business and bring it amongst the top 50 countries from the present 142^nd slot as per World Bank Report.  As per the MoU, CII and NUS will conduct joint state level research across 11 parameters including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, land acquisition and registration of property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labour market regulations. The MoU would subsequently be followed by individual tripartite MoUs between the CII, NUS and respective state governments to in turn create state-wise Master plan for ease of doing business and then prepare a comprehensive state-level action plan.

He elaborated strong Policy Advocacy will continue to remain the cornerstone of our work. To support Positive Governance, CII would work with states to strengthen Single Window Clearance agencies and their IT enablement to improve Ease of Doing Business and promote e-governance in the states. CII would also continue to work with States for speedy reforms in GST, APMC, Land Leasing Act, Land andPower Distribution etc. Our action plan will be effective implementation of policies necessary to encourage investment and trade in the region. CII NR will also work for streamlining the policies and integrating the objectives of the centre with the states. We will create a platform to strengthen Public Private Dialogue & Partnerships, connect with civil society and NGOs.