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Chief Ministers make a pitch to attract investments from NRIs

Special Correspondent

Gujarat will now like to compete with China and Japan, says Narendra Modi

HYDERABAD: Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir competed with one another on Sunday to attract Non-Resident Indian investments to their States.

Utilising the interactive forum provided by the ongoing Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2006 here, each of them tried to present his own State as the best investment destination in terms of infrastructure, reforms, dismantling of the inspector raj and labour laws.

`Warm hospitality'

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi made a presentation of how Gujarat, having beaten other States in all economic parameters, would like to compete with China and Japan. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his State looked forward to a makeover in tune with the recent mandate for development. "Do not get scared. Bihar is known for its warm hospitality and we welcome you," he said, reminding the audience that India could not hope to overtake China in growth if it left out Bihar.

Mr. Modi received a tongue-in-cheek compliment from his Maharashtra counterpart Vilasrao Deshmukh, who said, "Anything is possible under Mr. Modi." Mr. Deshmukh was the only Chief Minister who asked NRIs to consider the entire country for investments and called for consensus among States over labour laws.

In his introductory remarks, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the economy had two immediate objectives — to accelerate the growth rate to catch up with the rest of the world and to reach out to all sections of people. By any standards the economy was doing well, though it had not grown as fast as one would expect it to.

Focus on States

He said the focus on States had gone up after the onset of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. They were competing to attract investments and were being ranked in terms of infrastructure, governance and levels of corruption.

Amit Mitra of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) spoke of India's growth potential and the advantages it had over other countries and how State-level reforms held the key to a higher and sustainable growth trajectory.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said the State was about to achieve a 7.3 per cent Gross State Domestic Product for 2005-06, and had a lot to offer to investors.

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