General Awareness Updates- May 2015 ( Economy/Business)

Economy & Business

In a bid to boost investments and ease the process of doing business in the country, the Union Government has come up with a 98-point agenda for states to comply by May-end.

Addressing the Annual Regional Meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (southern region), Amitabh Kant, Union secretary for the department of industrial policy and promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said the Centre has specified the May-end deadline for states to comply, failing which it would name and shame them. “We will name and shame the states that rank poorly in ease of doing business (EDB),” Mr Kant said.

The 98 points listed by the Centre fall under the ambit of states, and include labour compliance, power connection and availability of land.

Mr Kant said the Centre is obtaining the help of the International Finance Corporation and World Bank to evaluate the performance of states on being investor-friendly. This process is likely to begin from June or July. He also urged the CII to help pressure the states to comply with the 98 points. “It is not for the World Bank but for the growth of India,” he added. He projected a record foreign direct investment this fiscal and said the inflows recorded 36 per cent growth so far. Stating that the key challenge is to take India’s economic growth trajectory to 9-10 per cent per annum, he said the government is doing away with some controls. He said the government is going in for e-based platforms to do business and listed the integration of 14 services of the Union government on the eBiz platform. These include services pertaining to the DIPP, industrial licence, employers’ registration with ESIC, EPFO, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, RBI, income tax and foreign trade.