E-Paper
State industry has progressed from survival to revival: Satish Mahana
UP’s industrial development minister gives an insight into governance during pandemic
Soon after coming to power in March 2017, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh began showcasing the state as an investment destination and focused on industrial development, which is expected to play a big a part in chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s one trillion dollar economy goal.
The state hosted the UP Investors Summit 2018, two ground-breaking ceremonies and the biggest ever Defence Expo. Howerver, Covid-19 hit the industrial and other sectors. HT spoke to industrial development minister Satish Mahana about how his department engaged in governance during the pandemic.
How did you face the challenge?
The impact of Covid-19 on industry in UP began weeks before the lockdown. The pandemic had already hit many countries, including Europe and the US, before us. Flights and cargo services were disrupted. Industry started feeling the heat before other sectors. But once the lockdown was declared in India, labourers were affected first. Then, industry came to a grinding halt. Our first major decision was to allow 11 crucial continuous process industries (CPI) in the state to function. We were quick to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lockdown-2 mantra ‘Jaan Bhi, Jahan Bhi (we have to save lives and the economy at the same time)’. After April 16, we began opening industries. We initiated amendments to make a shift from ‘survival’ to ‘revival’.
What did you do for the survival stage?
In the first stage, we began hand-holding the industries to get them to reopen with Covid safety protocols. We asked industry to pay full or partial salaries to employees. At the same time, employees were persuaded to begin working even on curtailed salaries as the factories were in distress. This is how the industries began functioning. Now, the situation has drastically changed. They are in a revival stage.
How is industry performing now?
In February, the industrial sector consumed (through industrial feeder) 8,630 mega-units of power per day. By May 22, the industrial sector power consumption reached 7,246 mega-units per day. This was 84% of February’s consumption. And now we have surpassed the February consumption. This is a clear indicator that we have entered the progress stage. Also, construction work on expressways is going on rapidly.
What steps did the government take for industry to overcome Covid-19 impact? What concessions were offered?
In Noida and Greater Noida, the construction sector, too, is under the industry department. We gave the builders six months’ extension for project completion. We gave a moratorium to industry on loan repayments. There were power related exemptions and concessions too. We also reviewed our 2017 industrial policy. For instance, earlier a minimum of 150 acres land had to be bought for establishment of a private industrial park. In view of Covid, we reduced this to 30 acres. We have offered concessions for logistics and warehousing ventures also. Our government has improved the ease of doing business by introducing various IT driven modules.
Did the state get new investment during Covid-19? What about the MoUs of investment summits?
We never stopped tracking MoUs signed at the summits. We began removing hurdles. On the ease of doing business index, Uttar Pradesh has been consistently outperforming (others) for the last four years and got ‘Achiever’ State status in 2017-18. What about attracting investors who want to shift from China? We are working on it with financial institutions. We have established helpdesks for different countries which could be potential investors in Uttar Pradesh. We expect that some would begin the shifting process once the Covid crisis ends.
