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Informist, Saturday, Jul 27, 2024

 

--NITI Aayog Virmani: States need to create conditions for mfg FDI 
--NITI Aayog CEO: Ranking method to help with FDI into states 
--NITI Aayog CEO: PM moots ranking plan for states investor friendliness

 

NEW DELHI - At the NITI Aayog's ninth Governing Council Meeting held here today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed developing an investor-friendly charter for states where they will be ranked on a scale of 100, reflecting how investor friendly they are to be able to attract foreign direct investments. It will be a challenge among states to showcase their investment competitiveness, Chief Executive Officer B.V.R Subramaniam said, adding that NITI Aayog will ensure FDI reaches every state, even the ones lagging in ranking, to prevent polarising of investments.

There is a lot of scope for India to become a manufacturing hub, especially for high-value goods, Member Arvind Virmani said. The manufacturing sector is key to foreign direct investment in states and each state should leverage its unique skills and resources and create conditions to increase aid it, he added.

 

Prime Minister Modi, who is the chairman of NITI Aayog, along with members of the panel met representatives from 26 states and union territories. Some states sent their inputs in writing, Subramaniam said.

 

At the meeting, the prime minister also emphasised on "skilling and training of youth to make them employment-ready as the world looks favourably towards India for skilled human resources," NITI Aayog said in a press release. "It is a top priority for the government," Subhramaniam said.

 

Modi's thrust on the need for skilling to make the youth employable comes at a time when many believe that the government's poor handling of unemployment in the economy led to the National Democratic Alliance coming back to power with a sharply reduced majority. 

Modi also encouraged all states to increase productivity and diversification in agriculture and provide market linkages to farmers. Member of the panel Ramesh Chand said the farmers should now focus on expanding to high-value crop cultivation, which will aid with rural income and thereby help close the gap between urban and rural income. 

 

In order to improve income and living conditions, Modi also suggested targetting 'zero poverty' as a priority for 'Viksit Bharat'. He said states had a huge role to play in this regard and must identify clusters or pockets that are poverty-stricken and should work towards eradicating poverty in that area before moving on to the next. "We think a pointed approach would be beneficial rather than taking a huge population together," Subhramaniam said.

 

He also said that an interesting suggestion that came from a state representative was the need to initiate demographic management plans to address the issues of ageing population in the future. "The Prime Minister encouraged states to initiate a demographic study to understand the economic, social, and welfare infrastructure that needs to be in place to handle the ageing population," Subhramaniam said. Each state will have a different scenario to deal with, there will not be one blueprint that applies to all, he added. 

 

Prime Minister also encouraged the creation of river grids at state level for effective utilisation of water resources. "Eastern states often face floods while western states face droughts. Integrated river grids could be a solution to this issue," Subhramaniam said. 

 

NITI Aayog is also currently working on a vision document for 'Viksit Bharat 2047' which will be an overview of the policies and reforms that the central and state governments can undertake to make India a developed economy by 2047. Several states also shared their endeavours to create a 'State Vision for 2047'.

 

At the outset of this vision document, NITI Aayog today released an 'Approach Paper' which identified internal challenges that need to be addressed and also laid down tangible goals for India at 2047. The internal challenges flagged by the paper included the need to upgrade manufacturing, logistics and research capabilities, achieving a balance between energy security, affordability and sustainability, improving industry competitiveness, bridging the gap between rural and urban incomes, and escaping the middle income trap.

 

On the other hand, the tangible goals for 2047 include improving life expectancy to 84 from the current 71, improving the working age population to 1.12 bln from 960 mln currently, and achieving a 100% literacy rate from the current 77%. 

 

"As for the economy, to become a developed nation, we need to strive to be a $30 trln economy by 2047 with a per capita income of $18,000 per annum. The GDP would have to grow 9 times from today’s $3.36 trln and the per capita income would need to rise 8 times from today’s $2,392 per annum," the paper said.   End

 

US$1 = 83.73 rupees

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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