Often put in the dock for defunct or snail-paced progress made on MoUs signed with industry partners, the State Government has now decided to lure investors altogether in a different way. In a renewed strategy, the focus is now on building brand Jharkhand at national and international forums and reach out to potential investors in an aggressive manner.
Going ahead with the change of stance, the Industry Department has planned to participate in a programme under ‘Make in India’ banner organised by Centre’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), slated to take place in Mumbai.
“We are not going there to ink any MoU with the investors. The strategy this time is different and we want to instead promote the State as a potential investment destination before the national and international audiences. We have some success stories and well settled areas such as mining, tourism, education, infrastructure and construction where there is lots of scope for investors,” Industry Director K Ravi Kumar informed The Pioneer.
The week-long summit is going to be organised between February 13-18 and Jharkhand along with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh has been selected as focused State of the country. Chief Minister Raghubar Das is expected to attend the summit on February 17, the day particularly designated to the State.
The fillip would be backed by recent accolades coming from the World Bank in the form of third position in the ‘ease of doing business’ and also by some steps taken in the direction of designating land banks in every district, single window clearance system and numerous sets of policies for promotion of food processing, feed processing, export, industrial parks and upcoming automobile policy.
“Besides showcasing the lucrative investment opportunities, we would also present some industry players like Tata Motors, Essar, JSPl, Tata Steel etc before the potential investors. They would put forth their experience of having worked in Jharkhand over the years which could be more effective on such stage,” said Ravi Kumar.
Similarly, the Government is closely working with industry conglomerates such as FICCI to organise investors’ summits outside the State. “We are working in close coordination with the Government and may be in April, an investors’ summit would be organised in Mumbai. A similar summit would be called in Delhi. The idea behind is to modify the impression about the State before the outsiders who are often frightened due to hear-say about incidents taking place in Jharkhand,” said Rana Banerjee, an FICCI office bearer in the State.
“The summits like these are expected to present the State as a potential destination also in unconventional sectors such as tourism, floriculture, organic farming etc which are still unknown to the outer world,” said the Industry Director.