Bizmen seek major revamp in policies to improve state’s ranking

Ludhiana: City businessmen are disappointed over Punjab’s position at 19th spot in India in ease of doing business rankings. According to city businessmen, the ranking indicates that the state government needs to revamp its present policies to create the business friendly environment in the state and once again make Punjab number one state in the country in terms of ease of doing business.
They are also of the view that its high time that the problems highlighted often by them like high power rates, deteriorating condition of the infrastructure of the industrial areas, expensive land rates, etc. are responsible for the dismal performance of the state in the rankings and these issues need to be urgently addressed by the government.
Speaking to TOI, Narinder Bhamra, president of Fasterners Manufacturers Association of India, said, “It’s really sad to know that Punjab, which once topped the rankings of ease of doing business, has now fallen to 19th spot. This is a wake up call for the state government that something is seriously wrong with their policies and till now the on ground implications of the new industrial policy have not been correctly analysed by the officials. Till date, the biggest and age-old problems being faced by industry have not been resolved, then how can the government expect ease of doing business here when our major problems like high rate of power for the existing industry have not been addressed till date.”
According to GS Kahlon, president of the auto parts manufacturers association, “19th spot in ease of doing business is really very low rank for a industry dependant state like Punjab and moreover, which has been a bastion of micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) industry in India. The rankings cannot be improved until the environment for running of industry is not made conducive here.”
He added, “When the authorities will fail to even take care of the existing infrastructure like roads, sewerage, street lights in designated industrial areas, then we will keep lagging in the ease of doing business and no new industry will set up base in the state. The state government has still some time left to take corrective measures, at least providing basic infrastructure to the factory owners. This is the only way we will go on to become number one state in terms of ease of doing business in India”
According to Pardeep Wadhawan, former senior vice president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association, “We appreciate the views of chief minister Amarinder Singh on the issue of Punjab raking 19th, wherein he has expressed his dissatisfaction over the rank and said that he was going to introduce a system of deemed approvals for industry and provide online clearances. But it is our suggestion to the CM to also address critical issues like high rate of power, high rate of industrial land, deteriorating condition of existing industrial infrastructure, etc. Moreover, working of government departments associated with the industry needs to be analysed from time to time to ensure that no unnecessary harassment of businessmen is done anywhere.”
Box – CM expresses disappointment, announces new changes
Expressing dissatisfaction with Punjab’s 19th rank in the Ease of Doing Business Survey, the CM has said that his government aims to put the state in the top five next year, with a new system of deemed approvals to be implemented soon to further promote business ease. He has claimed that the government is working on the process of setting up new industrial parks to attract investments from foreign and domestic companies, citing the upcoming state-of-the-art mega parks in Ludhiana, Rajpura, Bathinda and Mohali.