
Washington: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan has invited US industry majors to invest
in his state, positioning it as the logistics and
manufacturing hub of India in a post-GST regime offering
business-friendly policies.
Chouhan, in a series of meetings with US industry
representatives and leaders of the corporate world here has
invited them to invest in his state.
"I am not only the Chief Minister, but also CEO (chief
executive officer) of Madhya Pradesh. If there is any problem,
I try to resolve that immediately. Madhya Pradesh is emerging
as an ideal State in India," Chouhan said at a business
roundtable organized jointly by the Confederation of Indian
Industry and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
"Come and invest in Madhya Pradesh," he said as he and
his team of officials gave a detailed presentation on the
investor's friendly policies of the state government.
India, he said is developing at a fast pace.
"There is no policy paralysis ever since Narendra Modi
became the Prime Minister of India. Decisions are being taken
quickly. There is high growth rate," he said.
With the implementation of GST or goods and services tax,
India has become "as one nation, one tax and one market" thus
opening up new vistas for the businesses and industry, he
said.
And with Madhya Pradesh being centrally located, the
state government has quickly formulated policies so as to make
it the "logistics and manufacturing" hub of the country.
From food processing to defense manufacturing, the state
government has come out with industry specific policies and
the first of its kind investment based incentives in a post-
GST India, he said.
The availability of skilled manpower and a good law and
order, makes Madhya Pradesh an ideal destination for
businesses and industries to invest in Madhya Pradesh.
Demonetization has ended black money-based economy in the
country.
He said Madhya Pradesh has the highest agricultural
growth (averaging 20 per cent) in the country for the last
three years and has major defense manufacturing sites already
located in the region.
Food processing is one of the focus areas of his
government, he said. In addition, Madhya Pradesh, with its central location
and rapid growth, is quickly becoming a leader in rural and
urban development for India, he said.
The infrastructure in the state is one of the best, he
said, adding that Madhya Pradesh today is surplus in
electricity.
In Rewa, he said, world's largest solar power plant is
under construction where the electricity would be sold at a
record Rs 2.93 per unit, the cheapest in the world.
Referring to his drive from the airport to the city,
Chouhan said the roads in Madhya Pradesh seem to be better
than that of Washington DC.
In his presentation, Mohammed Suleman, Principal
Secretary said that in new GST regime, we are at the best
location to take products across the country.
Post GST, Madhya Pradesh would be the most attractive
destination for manufacturing in Indiam he said.
Madhya Pradesh, because of its location touches almost
50 per cent of the population of the country, so any facility
which is in Madhya Pradesh can easily transport its
manufacturing product to the rest of the country.
The Deputy Indian Ambassador to the US, Santosh Jha said
Chouhan is leading a state that is increasingly setting the
bar, adding that increasingly his experimentations in Madhya
Pradesh are becoming national plans.