CII-LKY-Punjab Govt Signs MoU on Improving Ease of Doing Business

By 121 News

Chandigarh 05^th November:- In a bid to draw a roadmap to improve Punjab's ranking in the ease of doing business across different critical parameters, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), its MoU partner Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY), Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Punjab Government today entered into a formal tripartite historic, MoU in the presence S. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Hon'ble Dy Chief Minister, Punjab. Similar tripartite MoUs have already been signed with Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, while with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh it is in progress as well.

A CII delegation led by S S Bhogal, Chairman, CII Punjab State Council, along with  Professor Sasidaran Gopalan, Research Fellow, and  Vincent Kwan, Research Assistant, LKY School of Public Policy, NUS, Singapore called on Dy CM, Punjab and other senior Government officials today to sign a formal MoU and discuss the way forward on how to create an enabling environment which is conducive to the existing industry as also attracts new investments.

The Dy Chief Minister expressed keenness on behalf of state government to be part of this unique initiative, considering that easing the business environment is critical for success of 'Make in India' campaign as well as to position Punjab as a preferred investment destination. While sharing his views on the recently released Ease of Doing Business report by World Bank, wherein Punjab has been ranked No 1 in terms of starting a business, the Dy CM asked the CII LKY team to suggest in their study how Punjab can be no 1 for Ease of Doing Business for the existing Industry as well.

Anirudh Tewari, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Punjab & Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion who was the signatory to the MoU on behalf of state Government briefed the visiting delegation on the Invest Punjab Bureau and how it is playing pivotal role actually implementing the Ease of Doing Business in true sense in Punjab.

 During the discussions, while dwelling on the broad parameters that are to be covered in the study,  S S Bhogal, Chairman, CII Punjab State Council shared that both NUS and CII will conduct state level research across the parameters determining the Ease of Doing Business including (i) Starting a Business, (ii) Dealing with Construction Permits, (iii) Getting Electricity Connection, (iv) Land Acquisition and Registration of Property, (v) Getting Credit, (vi) Protecting Minority Investors, (vii) Paying Taxes, (viii) Trading Across Borders, (ix) Enforcing Contracts, (x) Resolving Insolvency, (xi) Labour Market Regulations, with particular emphasis on attractiveness to investors and business friendliness.

Sharing the initiatives being taken by CII,  Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII Northern region shared that a workshop on enhancing the Ease of Doing Business in Punjab was also organised by CII and LKY earlier this year to learn about the bottlenecks and issues, if any faced by Industry and also the policy & regulatory changes with respect to promoting ease of doing business, especially for the existing Industry that can be recommended to the Government of Punjab.