MP: Chouhan hard sells state at investors’ seminar in Mumbai

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday exhorted industrialists to go ahead with their investment plans in Madhya Pradesh and not wait for the Global Investors Summit.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday exhorted industrialists to go ahead with their investment plans in Madhya Pradesh and not wait for the Global Investors Summit (GIS).

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said MP had implemented a single window policy, and assured the investors of a hassle-free investment climate. (hankar Mourya/HT file)

Chouhan was addressing a seminar at the CII meet on ‘investment opportunities in MP’ in Mumbai. The GIS is scheduled to be held in Indore on October 22 and 23.

“I have come along with senior officials who will guide you with the procedural details. We have ample land bank and you can select the land online using digital maps,” he said adding that the state had a ready force of skilled workers.

The chief minister, accompanied by state industry minister Rajendra Shukla, also invited the industrialists for the GIS.

He said MP had implemented a single window policy, and assured the investors of a hassle-free investment climate.

This year, instead of signing memoranda of understanding (MoU), the government will ask potential investors to apply online for “intention to invest” through the official website.

The government is also focussing on B2B (business to business) and B2G (business to government) interactions instead of holding a series of seminars as was the case during the previous summit in 2014. A separate event for MSME sector will be held in Bhopal in the last week of September.

The focus sectors include agri-business and food processing, automobile and engineering, defense, IT, new and renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and tourism.

The chief minister also assured investors that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will not have any impact on tax concessions offered by the state.

“The other tax benefits that we were offering will continue after the implementation of GST, what will be its form, we will have to sit and discuss... We will set up a task force, so that some of the benefits which were committed earlier, in different sectors, we will give them entirely.”

Madhya Pradesh offers many benefits to attract investments like exemption in entry tax, reimbursement of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Central Sales Tax (CST), reimbursement at the rate of 15% for the expenditure incurred on establishment of food park or horticulture hub, among others.

“VAT, CST and entry tax will be replaced (by GST) and these were the principal incentives the state offered in its policy. The cabinet committee and the chief minister have taken a decision that as and when GST gets implemented, whatever be the financials, whatever was available to you under the VAT and CST regime, the same will be protected under the GST regime,” Mohammed Suleman, principal secretary of commerce, industry and employment, MP government, said.

“We are focusing on food processing because we are ahead in the field of agriculture and we want to do value addition in Madhya Pradesh. Our agriculture growth has been 20% in the last four years. Asia’s largest solar plant is at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh and now the world’s largest solar power plant will be at Rewa in the state, so the renewable energy is another sector where investments are possible,” Chouhan said.

In the previous GIS in 2014, Madhya Pradesh received an investment intention worth $66.1 billion and since then, in the last two years, the state has realised an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore.

(With PTI inputs)