State Government holds maiden meeting of Jharkhand Investment Promotion Board in Mumbai as a precursor to its investment promotion campaign
The Government of Jharkhand held the inaugural meeting of the Jharkhand Investment Promotion Board (JIPB) in India’s financial capital, Mumbai. With the Chief Minister, who is also the Chairman of the Board, the Board comprises at least ten industry representatives nominated by the Government with due focus on priority sectors such as food processing, energy, automobile, IT-ITeS, tourism, infrastructure development, healthcare and education.
The Chief Minister of Jharkhand Shri Raghubar Das, who is also in charge of the Industries department, remarked, “While we are very happy and enthusiastic about our accomplishment in instituting DIPP’s Business Reforms desirables, we call upon industry representatives to reflect on these systems in a frank and forthright manner, so that we can completely iron out discrepancies and make them more responsive, robust and long term. We aim to ace the systems compliance agenda and will also strive to bring the most promising investment proposals to Jharkhand.
Investors are our partners in progress and this partnership, I believe, will be meaningful when it shapes up appropriately at the conception stage. Jharkhand is the fastest growing economy in Eastern India. Throughout the 15 month term-to-date of the state government, there has been no major law and order issue and in next 4 to 5 years Jharkhand will be a completely different state. All our sector specific policies are in place and are dynamic and flexible.”
T V Narendran, MD, Tata Steel said, “Make in India actually began in Jharkhand with Tata Group’s pioneering investments. DIPP’s recognition of the State’s business reforms has been a great turning point in the perception. The leadership of the Chief Minister has been very decisive and responsive, and this has contributed to the brand in an unprecedented way. The governance stability that has been ensured and endured has been a clear winner. The Government needs to now reach out aggressively to the capital equipment manufacturing sector from China, Japan and Germany for investments that would fuel growth of mineral rich Eastern India in general and Jharkhand in particular.”
Several members present during JIPB were unanimous in their call to the Government and industry jointly building the perception of industry as a good force of sustainable development, while ensuring that industrialization, especially mining, is sustainable. The Government acknowledged challenges and reaffirmed its resolve to scale up road, rail connectivity and especially, air connectivity to boost Jharkhand’s position as a favored investment destination.
As per the press release, present among the industry representatives were, Rajesh Adani, MD, Adani Group, Rajeev Jhawar, Managing Director, Usha Martin, P K Singh, Chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd, T V Narendran, Managing Director, Tata Steel, Tom Albanese, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Resources, Om Parkash Mittal, President, Laghu Udyog Bharti India, Father E Abraham S J, Director, XLRI, Jamshedpur and Anindya Sen, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi. They commended the Government for being in near-perfect coordination with the Union Government – be it in terms of reviving the health of the power sector through schemes such as UDAY or the ‘Make in India’ Mission.
During the meeting with key industrialists, the Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary took the participants through the recent measures and the agenda for the coming six months. One by one, the concerns articulated by participants were either responded to or noted down for action.
The maiden ‘Handbook for Shelf on Projects in the State of Jharkhand’ – a comprehensive document containing details of the key investible projects in the State – was released during the meeting. The Handbook is meant to serve as a guiding document for prospective investors to comprehend the scope of opportunities in Jharkhand. It will assist investors in pursuing expansion plans by identifying various options for investments in Jharkhand and choosing appropriate ones based upon their areas of interest, expertise, scale, budget and vision.
The JIPB will hereafter meet twice a year. The JIPB augurs well for the campaign since it promises to greatly enhance the State’s brand value by distinguishing the consultation process as absolutely direct compared to the survey-based convention.
