Andhra Pradesh, which is currently at the top position in terms of ease of doing business (EoDB), is targeting at emerging among the top five states in the world over the next five years, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Sunday.
Naidu made a presentation on the initiatives being taken by his government to improve the business environment in the state during a plenary session on “Promoting Ease of Doing Business” at the second-day of the CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam.
Naidu said Andhra Pradesh, which was ranked at position 2 in EoDB in India in 2015, rose to position 1 in 2016, within a year of bifurcation from Telangana, and retained its position for the second consecutive year in 2017.
“Now, our focus is to compete with the world’s best countries in providing an investor-friendly environment and emerge as one among the top five in the next five years. We are setting a benchmark for ourselves to achieve the goal,” Naidu said.
Stating that New Zealand was at the top in the world in EoDB as all permits for an entrepreneur to set up an industrial unit were provided in half a day, the chief minister said Andhra Pradesh would also be able to achieve this if there was adequate cooperation from the Centre.
{{/usCountry}}Stating that New Zealand was at the top in the world in EoDB as all permits for an entrepreneur to set up an industrial unit were provided in half a day, the chief minister said Andhra Pradesh would also be able to achieve this if there was adequate cooperation from the Centre.
{{/usCountry}}“India as a whole ranks 100 in the world in the EoDB. If the same parameters are applied to the states, Andhra Pradesh would stand in 84th position in the world. We have set a target of bringing down the ranking to 64 in the next three months and to 40 in the next nine months,” he said.
“We are planning to achieve this target using our advancements in technology. Digitisation of administration, capacity building, real-time monitoring and international collaborations are among the strategies being adopted by our government to create a hassle-free eco-system for starting businesses in the state,” Naidu said.
Union commerce and industries minister Suresh Prabhu, who is chairing the investors’ meet, assured the state of full cooperation from the Centre to facilitate a business-friendly environment. The state, he said, had shown the way during the last three years in adopting technologies to improve governance and transparency.
The secretary general of the international investor council of UAE, Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, also spoke at the event. He said Indians were among the largest group of investors transforming the UAE’s economy. Over 4,600 Indian investors have so far put $6.9 billion into the UAE economy, while UAE industrialists have invested $10 billion into the Indian economy. “We are interested in further expanding the bilateral business cooperation. We share a lot in common with India,” the UAE representative said.