The Uttar Pradesh government said that post-COVID-19, the state had emerged as the economic powerhouse of India.
UP has simplified 52 compliances to reduce regulatory burden on investors and the state has launched several attractive policies to attract investments in the post-pandemic scenario.
An official spokesman said a series of policy reforms initiated by the UP government were showing results and major land allotment reforms in UP were paving the way for big ticket investments.
The industrial development authorities in UP have allotted 326 plots, attracting Rs 6,700 crore investment in the last six months and several industrial parks are being planned along the expressways to catalyse Make in UP.
With another Rs 14,900 crore investment conversion post-COVID-19, the state government has facilitated implementation of 43 percent of the memorandums of understanding (MoU s) and has also implemented a series of institutional reforms for ease of doing business (EODB) in the state. The reforms have resulted in several domestic and foreign MNCs lining up investments worth Rs 45,000 crore in UP.
On the EODB front, the government said UP made a quantum jump in the state’s ranking in the recently announced Business Reform Action Plan ranking of states by DPIIT, Government of India. Uttar Pradesh bagged the second position — a jump of 12 positions in the last three years. UP implemented a record 186 reforms spread over multiple areas such as labour regulation, inspection regulations, land allotment, property registration, environment clearances, paying taxes and many others.
In the last six months, the industrial development authorities have allotted nearly 426 acres of land (326 plots) for projects with investment size of around Rs 6,700 crore and employment generation potential of nearly 1,35,362. This includes allotment to major investors such as Hiranandani Group, Surya Global, Hindustan Unilever, MG Capsules, Kesho Packaging, Mountain View Technologies, etc.
The policy-oriented governance mechanism already adopted by the UP government with the launch of Industrial Investment & Employment Promotion Policy in 2017, complemented by 20 sectoral policies, have played a pivotal role in promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and Make in UP.
Listing the post-COVID-19 policy reforms, the government said that the eligibility limits of private industrial and logistics park had been reduced from 100 acres to 20 acres in Bundelkhand and Purvanchal, 150 acres to 30 acres in Paschimanchal and Madhyanchal for private industrial parks; and from 50 acres to 25 acres for logistics parks.
Land allotment reforms have also been implemented with online allotment of land at all major industrial development authorities (IDAs) through the single window portal Nivesh Mitra and integration of the geographic information system (GIS) portal of the IDAs with Industrial Information System (IIS) portal of the Government of India with real-time updation.
The government has given focused attention on new sector post-COVID-19 to promote new industries such as bulk drug and medical device manufacturing for which the state government is pursuing with the Government of India for development of dedicated industrial parks. Sectors like logistics, defence, and data centre etc. are also gaining momentum. The state government is quickly adapting to new market trends and focusing to tap new opportunities.
The upcoming Jewar International Airport in Greater Noida spread over 5,000 hectares of land will be one of the largest airports in northern India. With the airport, projects like MRO/cargo complex and aerotropolis are likely to come up. Besides, MSME park, electronics park, apparel park, handicraft park and toy park are also proposed in the region. The state government has recently announced a film city on over 1,000-acre plot located just about 6 km from the proposed Jewar International Airport. These schemes are expected to bring investment worth Rs 40,000 crore and around 2.5-3.0 lakh employment.
