CMs compete to grab share of diaspora NRI investment pie

Friday 16th January 2015 04:26 EST
 
 

Chief ministers from major Indian states competed with each other to grab a share of the diaspora investment pie. Besides assuring of ease in doing business, the CMs, during a session on the concluding day of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), promised their personal attention, single window clearances, incentives and a dedicated personnel for guiding diaspora investors. Chief ministers from nine states including Congress-ruled Kerala, showcased their states as the most preferred investment destination to the Indian diaspora attending the PBD at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

The chief ministers who participated included Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Prakash Singh Badal (Punjab), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Oomen Chandy (Kerala), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), Manohar Khattar (Haryana), Laxmikant Parsekar (Goa) and Raghubir Das (Jharkhand).

The competition among the state was evident with each chief minister projecting his state as the best place to invest by enumerating the economic advantages and various policy initiatives taken by his government.While Badal said that they have a single window clearance system in Punjab, Chouhan said in MP they have their door open for investment and he himself meets investors every week to decide on project proposals.

Naidu upped the ante by saying that he had fully digitized system for speedy and transparent clearance of industrial projects. Fadnavis promised to cut down time taken to process investment proposals and described new sectors for investment in Maharashtra. Haryana's Khattar and Goa's Pareskar too promised speedy processing of proposals. Jharkhand CM Das described opportunities in mining, steel, automobile and SME sectors in his state.

Kerala's Chandy said that his state had a structural advantage of long coastline, strong consumer base which would boost any industry set up there. He also demanded rehabilitation package for labourers returning to India from Gulf countries. The strongest pitch was made by UP team. Though CM Akhilesh Yadav was absent from the the event, the UP officials unleashed a publicity blitzkreig projecting UP as biggest investment destination.


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