Government of Chhattisgarh has targeted to achieve 8-9% growth over the next five years: Dr Raman Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
Appreciated CII for its effort towards the growth and development of the state
Chhattisgarh became the first state in the eastern region and second in India, after Andhra Pradesh, to take the “giant step” towards creating a conducive and vibrant environment for businesses when it exchanged a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on building a Master Plan on Ease of Doing Business in Chhattisgarh: Vision 2020, with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Lee Kuan Yew School for Public Policy (LKYSPP) of Singapore here today.
Professor Ramkishen S Rajan, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow of ACI-LKYSPP-NUS, Mr Subodh Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries, Government of Chhattisgarh and Mr Ashish Jain, Chairman, CII Chhattisgarh State Council exchanged the MoUin the august presence of Dr Raman Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.
As per the MoU, which the Chhattisgarh Government, CII and LKYSPP will collaborate in conducting joint research and capacity building on issues related to the ease of doing business in Chhattisgarh. Significantly, the MoU will enable Chhattisgarh to utilise the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) of Singapore as a platform for investment research, study economic situations and explore investment opportunities in ASEAN and China.
Earlier in the day, during addressing the Seminar on e-Commerce: The Next Frontier ogranised by CII in Raipur coinciding with its Eastern Regional Council Meeting, Dr Raman Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh stated that the Government of Chhattisgarh has targeted to achieve 8-9% growth over the next five years. He appreciated CII for its effort in organizing the Seminar on e-Commerce and also for bringing its Eastern Regional Council Members to Raipur. He said that Chhattisgarh is increasingly focusing upon e-Commerce and hoped that Chhattisgarh would be the first state to implement e-auction in mining and minerals.
The Hon’ble Chief Minister said that Chhattisgarh has worked exceedingly well in the area of Ease of Doing Business and he felt that e-Commerce has a crucial role to play in achieving the objective of the same. He said that Chhattisgarh provides excellent business atmosphere in terms of high end physical infrastructure, skilled resources and a ready consumer market. Moreover, the government of Chhattisgarh is increasing its business on internet platforms which would automatically enhance the scope for the e-Commerce industry.
During interacting with the CII Eastern Regional Council, the Hon’ble Chief Minister affirmed that in alignment with the Central Government’s focus on Skills, Government of Chhattisgarh also taking several initiatives for skill development in the state.
Infrastructure is also a major focus area of the Government of Chhattisgarh. 560 kms of new railway lines will be built in the next there years. Dr Singh stated that the Government of Chhattisgarh will spend Rs 20000 crore in next three years for infrastructure development and connecting the rural with the urban areas.
He said that Chhattisgarh has already excelled in many areas including power and energy and is now putting increased focus on the development of the food processing industries in the state.
To boost the tourism sector in the state, the Hon’ble Chief Minister said that the state would be participating in Destination East organized by CII wherein it brings in travel stakeholders from across the globe who meets their eastern Indian counterparts over pre-scheduled B2B meetings. They are then taken to fam trips in different destinations across to region so that they promote these destinations in their respective countries.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Amar Agrawal, Minister for Commerce and Industries, Government of Chhattisgarh, said that Chhattisgarh is a State where one can get cost advantages for setting up of business both in terms of physical and human resources. Its single-window facilitation mechanism ranks among the best in the country. He also said that e-Commerce is one of the focus areas of the Chhattisgarh Government which is looking at substantial investments in e-commerce. The state have already adopted investor-friendly policies. He also said that Government of Chhattisgarh has revamped its taxation system and implemented e-governance in commercial tax. Ore such steps would be taken in days to come. Mr Agrawal felt that Chhattisgarh is and would be playing an key role in the nation’s growth story.
Mr Viresh Oberoi, Chairman, CII National Committee on e-Commerce stated that the benefits of e-commerce is to bring in transparency, efficiency and convenience. Realising the importance of the e-Commerce sector, CII has constituted the National Committee on e-Commerce. Mr Oberoi avowed that this Seminar on e-Commerce is the first initiative of the CII National Committee on e-Commerce at the state level and would be replicated in others states also.
Mr Oberoi further stated that e-Commerce provides hugely to the MSME sector and small producers who does not have the linkage to the market places. He said that it can also help in empowering women in the villages of the states by connecting the small women entrepreneurs with the market thereby encouraging them to make something and sell it to the world.
Addressing the Seminar on e-Commerce, Mr Joy Bandekar, Corporate President, Flipkart.com said that e-Commerce is now emerging as one of the more powerful tools to create better market linkages locally and globally and the states should support the same with favourable policies.
RAdm A K Verma (Retd.), Chairman, CII Eastern Region said that CII has taken this initiative on e-Commerce to see some national e-Commerce leaders visit the state and feel how ease of doing business works in Chhattisgarh. He said that to boost industrial growth in the state of Chhattisgarh, CII is looking at launching an MSME Handholding Centre in the state.
A host of industry leaders and government officials attended the programme.
Mr Sunil Mishra, IFS, Managing Director, CSIDC; Mr Ajay K Gupta, Head – Warehousing & Packaging, Tata UniStore Limited; Mr Balfour Manuel, Senior Vice President, Blue Dart; Mr Ashish Kumar Ray, Chief of Horizon III & CTO, mjunction services ltd; Mr Neel Ratan, Executive Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers, India; Mr Nishant Kalra, Business Unit Leader, IBM Commerce - India / South Asia also addressed the Seminar on e-Commerce.
Mr T V Narendran, Deputy Chairman, CII Eastern Region; Mr Ashish Jain, Chairman, CII Chhattisgarh State Council; Mr Mahendra Agrawal, Vice Chairman, CII Chhattisgarh State Council and Dr Saugat Mukherjee, Regional Director, CII Eastern Region were also present.
Coinciding with this, CII also organized a session on ease of doing business with the Lee Kuyan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.
A meeting was also organized between the state government and the leading Airlines for better connectivity of Chhattisgarh with rest of the country. Chairman, CII Eastern Region stated that this is something the state urgently needs and richly deserves. Once that happens, more and more businesses in the country and abroad will take greater interests in Chhattisgarh.
11 July 2015
Raipur