Foreign Investment in States, Vibrant Gujarat, ET Business Summit

Efforts to enhance Foreign Investment in the State

11 January 2015(Spotlight/ News Analysis - All India Radio)

This is the FM Gold channel of AIR, In the Programme News Analysis now we bring you the dialogue on Efforts to enhance Foreign Investment in the States

Participants are Aravindha Prasad, DG, FICCI and Prakash Chawla, Senior Economic Journalist.

Transcription:

Both centre & state in the forefront of economic development – to woo investment within the country & from abroad; Disinvestment is need when the economic is going through slowdown; appetite for fresh investment, environment to motivate investors; India – as said by World Bank President at Vibrant Gujarat Summit- is a bright spot – as it grow at 5% and it need to get higher level; High power Govt. Delegation & Fortune 500 Companies at the Vibrant Gujarat Mega Event -  in one hand we have forward looking Gujarat Paradigm whereas the rest states?

Can India grow faster? Combining the efforts of the states – need or appetite; Young population – Agriculture employ more than 50% - less contribution to GDP - need to enhance further investment– Infrastructure & Manufacturing – opportunity to invest in Renewable Energy, Road Port & Railway Infra; Manuf. Contribution to GDP currently 15% whereas china it is 30%, so India target for 25%; appetite in Opportunity – state competing – after the launch of Make in India Campaign – improve Ease of Doing business aspect – Vibrant Gujarat- 7^th edition – every two years; Now West Bengal in the race – similar effort 7^th to 9^th Jan 2015; Each states making strong pitch to bring investment in their states – investment will lead to economic growth, Infra facility- Road, Railway, power sector and  social infra- Health care, Higher Education; states going through cooperative competitiveness;

What really matters for the investor is – Last mile connectivity – ease of doing business; 

Vibrant Gujarat – PM address – PPP investment in Infra sector – steps taken at the federal level - Policy driven administration;

PPP investment in larger infra projects – to succeed the investor confidence on the system and also user should feel that they are provided with best quality of service at reasonable price, and importantly timely completion of the project (Delayed project may increase the user charge); issues of land acquisition, environmental clearance, forest clearance; Power companies – losses should be reduced , port – Sagar Mala Initiative (interconnecting coastal cities with Road, Railways), GOI allowed 100% in the Railways; Clean energy access – Renewable Energy; Digital India Initiatives;

Whether global investors are reassured of the kind of step taken by the Govt. of India – is the days of policy uncertainty bothering gone?

Credibility as CM of Gujarat – positive experience to the Investors; Now huge opportunity across India for the investor- DMIC (Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Mumbai), Western Corridor (Andhra Pradesh)- Public today demand growth;

Dichotomy and problem is – Eastern part of India – Inequality of development – regional imbalance;

PM stress upon the balanced growth; huge opportunity to connect with the ASEAN countries; Orissa huge opportunity in terms of mining & minerals; fair amount of awareness and competition among the states is essential;

__________________________________________________________________

Outcome of Vibrant Gujarat

13 January 2015(Spotlight)

This is the FM Gold channel of AIR, In the Programme News Analysis now we bring you the dialogue on Outcome of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Participants are V Raghuraman, Former SG, ASSOCHAM and K A Badrinath, Policy Editor, 

Financial Chronicle.

Press conference Addressed by CM of Gujarat - 21,000 MoU for Business partnership, 1225 Strategic partnership announced – Rs.25 Lakh Crore investment in Industries across sector – largest investment commitment in last few years; where do you think we are heading to, in terms of reviving Manufacturing Growth as such?

Lot of expectation from the world, after new govt. – globally lot of stagnation – most of the economies are really in the back foot – Chinese economy slowing down – looking for the opportunity for investment; Red carpet to replace the red tap- providing for ease of doing business; different context – at national level & state level - unity of Interest and also there is a sort of climate being developed – the centre to work with states as a cooperative federalism; Gujarat as precedent – keen interest in the opportunity provided;

Realization of the expectation – untangle of the bottlenecks - the clear policy guidelines – better understanding of the natural assets – transparency; great level of realization, implementation of the announced projects;

Vibrant Gujarat, International Business Summit at West Bengal – 2 Lakh Crore Investment Commitments, Madhya Pradesh – 3 Lakh Crore committed, Last year at Uttar Pradesh – after failure of TATA NANO project in West Bengal, hardly investment commitment hearing to West Bengal – is this kind of conference means mere talk-shop or do they translate in to business?

Something called competitive Federalism – lot of competition among the states - States want development, to generate Employment; Conferences reinforce the interest of the State Govt., Union Govt., Pvt. Players, International players to assess the situation at the Ground Level (Local Govt.); Four reasons/issues in the states – Land, Power, Ease of getting capital; Each state compete to get Investment;

From Cooperative Federalism, a step ahead to Competitive Federalism – Next phase of action - Competitiveness among the state or Govt. and its stand, which is the driving force for Investment or Industrial Development?

Predictability of policy- Stability, Law & order situation, Labour situation, Governance issues; Act of state govt. should facilitate rather than hinder E.g. Andhra Pradesh – CM went out a way to get investment; Auto Hub in Gujarat – it cooperate with TATA NANO when it was driven out of West Bengal; Ways & Means to develop confidence among the Investors and to ensure benefit all across to investor, State, and people across;   

This type of conference provide enabling environment; lot of capital outflow than inflow – our Domestic investor prefer destination abroad for their investment. How do you see this diabolic? How to reverse the capital outflow?

Ease of doing business, More predictability, Confidence between Industries, Investor and Govt., multiple reason – are the reason for the capital outflow; Upcoming Budget, Finance commission Report – Centre State Cooperation, RBI Policy – all this might improve the environment – to take India in to the next level in terms of Manufacturing;

PM address to the Global Business Summit

Electrifying Speech by PM Narendra Modi at ET Business Summit

17 January 2015(Spotlight)

This is the FM Gold channel of AIR, In the Programme News Analysis now we bring you the dialogue on PM address to the Global Business Summit.

Participants are Dr. Ranjith Mehta, Director, CCI and Arjun J Choudary, Economic Journalist.

Primary question on PMO’s move on ensuring Ease of Doing Business – How the new government facilitating the trade & investment environment?

Make in India Campaign – country as global investment destination – to simply process essential for ease of doing business – India Rank 140 in 172 countries – PM set target of reaching the Rank 50; Tax Structure which is craving for reform; first step is Simplification of the process – to finish license Raj – e.g. for Real Estate Project – developer has to take permission from 58 Department – let to delay of the project by 2-3 years; Make in India aspire for the global manufacturing hub; Important step is Electronic processing – single window clearance – minimum human intervention;

IIP increased to 3.8% and CPI inflation comes down to 5% and unscheduled lowering Repo Rate by 25 basis point by the RBI Gov.  Do you see the current mix of favorable indicator as the greater indication for the improving economy under the current govt.?

Core sector – PM address, specially emphasized – not to scrap subsidy – but the purpose of the subsidy is to uplift the poor in the villages & cities – we have more than 400 million people, who are below the poverty line – subsidy will continue- revamp PDS system; Actual benefit of the subsidy do not go to the poorest of the poor; if efficiency is improved then it could bring down the cost – improve basic life of the poor;

Commitment to achieve fiscal deficit target – checks & balance implemented in to the system – Govt. take advantage of the lower global fuel price; How do you see the pricing in fuel, Inflation overall comes down?

Making India in to $20 Trillion (currently US economy is $15 Trillion) – to take India to that level it is required to improvement in all quarters of the economy; PM’s Vision to achieve this target – Technological intervention in all spheres of the working life – cut down the cost by using technology – efficiency can be improved; Tax reform is very important for this; Important demand of Industries in India is to have cheaper fund to improve invest;

PM Modi invites State CM for the discussion – importantly for the Reform in the Tax Strucuture;

For Ease of doing business – first step is Reform in Tax structure – GST is to be the game changer; so many hassles would be eased off;

Infosys Narayan murthy, strongly pitched for GST to be high in Agenda and Chandrababu Naidu has suggested, India must have Vision 2050. Will India achieve its $20Trillion Economy dream in long term or in short?

First step is to aspire – dream; Reformation in Planning Commission Now NITI Aayog – irrelevance of Five Year plan had been ride off to pave way for long term planning;

Really about implemented of the Strategic & Tactical steps proposed by the Govt.as proposed is about NITI Aayog;

Finance Minister – Land Acquisition in the current for has numerous obstacles;

Land Acquisition Ordinance is an important step in Ease of doing Business – emphasis was simplification of process without compromising the Farmers need and compensation; Two basic & important changes – Social Impact Assessment (SIA) & Consent of Fraction; to convert Dream in to Reality it is very important step;

Also part of growth is Innovation – R&D investment by the Corporate; How do Govt. through NITI Aayog  incentivizing in directing the Public sector & private to invest in R&D?

Right now, unfortunately in India, R & D expenditure in all the department is very low; But to be a top most economy in the World, then R & D is an important aspect, it cannot be ignored; Govt. promised for 24x7 power – Energy security is very important for India – the way to Green & clean Energy is essential – commitment to generate  100k Mw of Renewable Energy by 2020 – would be the game changer;

Approach of PM Modi, will be a game changer to Indian Economy in comparison to that of China – Nobel Laureate Paul Krukmen, Economist; India can come up to the leve, Do you agree? what extent?

Quality product - Good Skill set – improving the efficiency;

______________________________________________________________________________

GIST: 

Efforts to enhance Foreign Investment in the States

-         Vibrant Gujarat 7^th Edition, West Bengal Business Summit, - Currently Manufacturing contribute 15% of GDP whereas China at 30%; State competing – Appetite for Opportunity in Renewable Energy, Road, Port & Railway Infra and social infra like Health care, Higher Education; Ease of Doing Business – to build Investor confidence - Last mile connectivity – Two important aspect in PPP investment in larger infra project – Best quality of service at reasonable price to all, Timely completion of the project;  Issues: Land Acquisition, Reducing loss of Power companies, Interconnecting coastal cities with Road, Railways (Sagar Mala Initiative), Access to Clean/Renewable Energy, Digital India Initiative; Dichotomy & Problems: Regional Inequality (esp. North Eastern part of Indian which has huge opportunity to connect with the ASEAN countries)

-         Outcome of Vibrant Gujarat Summit (Jan 2015) – 21k MoU for Business Partnership, 1225 Strategic Partnership – expected Rs. 25 Lakh Crore Investment – Replacing Red Tap with Red Carpet – Unity of interest among Centre & States – from Cooperative Federalism to competitive federalism; also 2 Lakh crore committed in West Bengal Business Summit and 3 Lakh Crore; Conferences reinforce the interest of the State Govt., Union Govt., Pvt. Players, International players to assess the situation at the Ground Level (Local Govt.); Four reasons/issues in the states – Land, Power, Ease of getting capital; Each state compete to get Investment; Conference provide enabling environment for lot of capital flow and Confidence between Industries, Investors, Govt. could reverse the capital outflow;

PM address at ET Business Summit (Jan 2015)- Make in India campaign – to make the country as global investment destination – India Rank 140 out of 172 countries in Ease of Doing Business – Electronic processing single window clearance – to ease project clearance which take permission of more than 58 Department making the project delay by 2-3 years; Make India in to $20 Trillion Economy (above Current $15 Trillion US economy);