Chhattisgarh, heading with the vision of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, has seen significant growth and development over the last decade. This led to benchmark levels of growth in core industries and agriculture. It is this exceptional combination of development through value addition to natural resources and diversification of industries led by innovation and technology that places Chhattisgarh amongst the preferred business destinations in India, writes Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).
Recently, Chhattisgarh has been ranked sixth in the Ease of Doing Business and recognised as ‘Top Achievers’ as per Business Reform Action Plan Ranking (BRAP) 2019 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the World Bank. As a part of the fourth comprehensive assessment undertaken by DPIIT, Chhattisgarh has successfully implemented 186 out of 187 viz 99.47 percent of reforms prescribed under BRAP 2019.
Chhattisgarh’s central strategy is to keep businesses at the centre of its Ease of Doing Business reforms exercise. Department of Commerce and Industries conducted discussions with various industry groups at the State level, such as CII, PHD Chambers of Commerce, Urla Industries Association, Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association and others to understand issues faced by industries in their regular business operations and based on the feedback received from industry towards various reforms, State has put in place to decentralise and de-regulate the business regulatory environment in the state.
“Our policy aims to provide enabling business environment in the state Based on our strength we have identified key sectors which we are keen to establish in Chhattisgarh and Food Processing and Ethanol are of the few which have started gaining momentum. We are keen to develop food processing at block level in Chhattisgarh,” said Manoj Kumar Pingua, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industries, Government of Chhattisgarh .
Till date, more than 47 thousand units have registered under Udyam Akanksha in Chhattisgarh. During the last two years around 18,000 industries have been registered under MSME category. The Government of Chhattisgarh has not only eased the application process but also assisted in maintaining the delivery of services in defined timeline. At present the average time to receive all the required clearances/ No Objection Certificates/ approvals to establish a business have been brought down to around 49 days.
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Last year, Chhattisgarh unveiled the new Industrial Policy 2019- 24 which provides unparallel incentives to the investors. Chhattisgarh has taken several progressive steps over the years and has emerged as one of the most preferred investment destinations in India. State also offers various advantages like strategic location, robust connectivity, industrial infrastructure, surplus power, large land bank, single window system for the investors.
“Chhattisgarh has attracted large investments in Steel, Food Processing, Bio Ethanol and Defence sectors during the lockdown period,” informed Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industries, Government of Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh has robust infrastructure in terms of good road network, airports and 24X7 power supply for industrial/ commercial use. Additionally, the state has developed a land bank of 5,000 hectare to facilitate industrial development. Plug and play infrastructure in these regions enables investors to start the venture immediately. Robust online land application process enables the State to allocate land within one working day