Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday called upon Japanese investors to become partners in ‘Make in India’ campaign.
He was addressing an Investors Convention organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Osaka in Japan.
Singh invited the Japanese investors to visit India and invest in Chhattisgarh.
He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indo-Japan relationship have assumed a new dimension.
Singh said that this is the first convention in Japan related to investment opportunities existing in Chhattisgarh .
Singh added that Japan is identified with high quality, technical excellence, innovation in India.
The Chief Minister appreciated Japanese work culture and humility.
Indians can learn so much from Japan. The eternal success of the country had attracted Indians to Japan, he said.
Singh said — just as Chhattisgarh is coined as ‘Rice Bowl of India’ similarly Osaka is recognized as the main centre of rice trade in Japan and also coined as ‘Kitchen of Japan’.
He said that Chhattisgarh was carved out in the year 2000. It is a new State. Youthful with full of energy and unlimited potential. It is a rapidly developing State in the entire country.
Singh said that Chhattisgarh is heaven in India as far as natural beauty is concerned. There are immense mineral resources, abundant water, skilled human resources and fertile land. Steel, cement, aluminium industries and power plants had attained huge success in the State.
The main focus is on non-core fields — Information Technology, Electronics, solar energy and automobiles. World-class infrastructure is being built, he said.
Singh revealed that according to World Bank report Chhattisgarh is among the top five States in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ category.
Members of Japan Foreign Business Organisation (JETRO), Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Japan and representatives of Japan-based Industries organisations were also present.
Significantly, in April 2016, a host of key Chinese companies from Zhengzhou city of Henan province in China had also signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) worth $945 million (approx Rs 6,600 crore) for setting up a wide set of industrial projects in Chhattisgarh on the third day of Chief Minister Raman Singh’s week-long tour to China.
As per the MoUs, Chinese companies will primarily invest in manufacturing of solar power equipment, railway and building construction material sectors in Chhattisgarh.
The Zhongli Talesun Solar Company limited will invest about 500 million USD in cable manufacturing, real estate and renewable energy sector. This MoU will help in developing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of solar cell and solar panel in Chhattisgarh.
likewise, M/s Chongqing Changzheng Heavy Industry Co. ltd. has also inked MoU worth 20 million USD for developing Station Wagon industry in Chhattisgarh.
Chief Minister Raman Singh after signing of MoUs participated in the 10th International Investment and Trade fair at Zhengzhou and addressed a gathering of representatives from 25 different countries.
He said that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched ‘Make in India’ programme for creating an India that is one of the front line countries with strong Industrial and Financial sectors. Working on same line, we are promoting investments through ‘Make in Chhattisgarh’ programme, he said.
Singh also detailed about the development prospects and possibilities in Chhattisgarh.
Chief Minister Raman Singh in December last year had also stated that American entrepreneurs and NRIs have shown keen interest in ‘Make in Chhattisgarh’ vision created on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign.
Singh had shared his experience of 10-day tour to United States after returning from New Delhi to Raipur.
The Chief Minister was accorded warm welcome at the Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur by citizens, public representatives, officials of various organisations and Government officials .
On the occasion, Singh had informed that the main motive of his US tour was to promote capital investment in various sectors of manufacturing under ‘Make in Chhattisgarh’ campaign and to project Chhattisgarh as an inseparable part of ‘Make in India’ campaign at global level.
Singh said that he and delegation of State government attended Investors’ Meet at New York on November 29, at Chicago on November 30 and at San Francisco on December 2. These meets were jointly organized by US-Indian Business Council (USIBC) and TII-Global.
In these events, more than 70 American industrialists, NRIs and CEOs of various companies participated.
likewise, the Investors’ Meet in Chicago was attended by more than 60 investors and that in San Francisco was attended by more than 60 investors. American investors were invited to invest in Chhattisgarh.
In these events, Chhattisgarh Government’s delegation had one-to-one discussions with investors about the wide scope of investment in non-core sectors of Chhattisgarh such as IT, defense, food processing, pharmaceuticals, solar energy, start-up and bio-technology.
The industrial groups with whom the delegation had discussions include UTS Global, E-Kisan Foundation, Global India Business Council, Vanguard Technology, Physician of Indian Origin, Cisco, Google and others.
In the Investors’ Meet of San Francisco, three major MoUs were signed. On the occasion, Stanford University signed MoU with Chhattisgarh Government for exchange of teaching material, research, professors and students for educational purpose and also for creating awareness for prevention of rheumatic heart disease in Chhattisgarh. Wadhwani Foundation signed MoU with Chhattisgarh to promote entrepreneurship in Chhattisgarh, which includes providing employment opportunities and promotion of Start-up and SMI Eco-system for skill development.
Under the MoU signed by Spinta Global Accelerator with Chhattisgarh, steps will be taken to enhance professional competency and entrepreneurial skills in youth of the state.
Under the leadership of the Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh Government’s delegation visited Digital Start-up 1871-Technical and Entrepreneurial Development Centre in Chicago, which was established to provide technical, financial and commercial assistance and guidance to Digital Start-up Business Community of Chicago.
A total of 400 High growth digital start-up works are underway in this centre. The delegation met the Chief Operational Officer of this centre Tom Alexander and had a discussion about developing start-up sector in Chhattisgarh. On December 2, delegation visited Google campus in San Francisco and met Vice-President Product Management Anjali Joshi and Group Product Manager Meenal Mehta to discuss about the scope of cooperation between Google and Chhattisgarh Government in sectors of health, IT and education.
On December 2, the delegation visited 500 start-up campus in San Francisco. Officials of Chhattisgarh met members of 500 Start-up Group and discussed about start-up ecosystem.
It may be recalled that Chhattisgarh also had five ‘Part ‘B’’ IEM forms filed involving an investment of Rs 2037 crore during financial year 2015-16, according to the annual report of Central government’s Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) for 2015-16.
It is among 16 states which had implemented the ‘340-point Business Reform Action Plan 2016’ to design and implement an online single window system with functionality for online application, payment and approvals, the Central Government had informed recently.
The 16 States/UTs implemented this reform in 2016 are- Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, it informed.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has reported that Government of India has been working towards adopting international best practices and has made significant advancement over the years. Government has taken vigorous measures to make it easier to invest or to do business in India by undertaking various reforms.
Major national initiatives have been designed to facilitate investment; foster innovation and enhance skill development. The goodwill generated by the Government’s hard work and efforts has yielded an unprecedented level of interest among investors, both foreign and domestic.
A 98-Point Action Plan for improving the regulatory framework for business as part of easing the doing business in the country was shared in December 2014. Subsequently, a report titled “Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms” was released in September 2015 capturing the findings after taking the stock of reforms implemented by States. The assessment, first of its kind, promoted both competitive and cooperative federalism among the States and Union Territories (UTs).
The first 98-point Action Plan created a wave of regulatory improvement measures and the need to sustain the momentum of the regulatory reform; a 340-Point Business Reform Action Plan for States and Union Territories (UTs) was circulated by Government to all States/UT Governments in the year 2015-16.
In order to ensure that all information is readily available to an entrepreneur intending to set up a business, a comprehensive single window system is envisaged with an online common application form for various clearances to industry/businesses.
Various States have created a dedicated Single Window body as a one-stop online system for State level regulatory and fiscal incentive approvals. It has provisions for filing applications, payment, status tracking, online scrutiny and application approvals.
DIPP in partnership with the World Bank Group, released the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2017 for implementation by States/UTs on April 13, 2017.
The BRAP includes 405 recommendations for reforms on regulatory processes, policies, practices and procedures spread across 12 reform areas, that is, labour regulation enablers; contract enforcement; registering property; inspection reform enablers; single window system; land availability and allotment; construction permit enablers; environmental registration enablers; obtaining utility permits; paying taxes; access to information and transparency enablers and sector specific reforms spanning the lifecycle of a typical business.
This year there are 103 new set of reforms (out of 405) focusing on central inspection system, online land allotment system, online single window system for granting construction permits, registration under Inter State Migrant Workmen (RE&CS) Act, 1979, approval for boiler manufacturer and boiler erector etc. BRAP 2017 also includes two new sectors i.e. Healthcare and Hospitality. The last date to implement the reform is October 31, 2017.
DIPP will carry out a comprehensive business-to-government (B2G) feedback exercise this year whereby feedback will be taken from businesses on the quality of implementation of the reforms claimed by the States and UTs. For each State/UT, the scores will be aggregated over all the surveys conducted to yield an overall score for the State/UT.
The feedback scores will be used to generate a ranking of States/UTs in terms of reform implementation. Such a ranking will be different from the last year’s ranking, which was a ranking of de jure reforms (or reforms based on evidence submitted by States).
The online portal shall soon be enabled to allow States/UTs to upload the reforms implemented along with the evidence.
Notably, the Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) intends to create a ‘ servicing hub’ that provides skilled workforce for manufacturing sector and equipped workforce for Information Technology and Bio Technology Sector, officials informed.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government has allotted Sector 5 in Naya Raipur for setting up of non polluting industrial projects.