Adityanath to chair first Investment Promotion Board meet on Tuesday

The state govt had constituted UP Investment Promotion Board to promote private investment

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will hold parleys with leading industrialists in Lucknow on Tuesday to discuss issues related to investment and industrialisation.

In November 2016, the state government had constituted UP Investment Promotion Board to give impetus to private investments, especially in run-up to the proposed UP Investors’ Summit on February 21-22, 2018.

Adityanath heads the Board while UP industrial development minister is the vice chairman. It also consists of 11 industrialists representing different sectors, as members.

Adityanath is will chair the first meeting of the Board on Tuesday. The constitution of the Board was one of the pre-poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its UP election manifesto.

The Board has been mandated to create a conducive investment climate in UP, rationalisation of processes and labour reforms for generating employment opportunities. It would also collaborate with top institutions and consultants to promote ‘Brand UP’ among the industrialist and investment community in India and abroad.

At the same time, the body would prepare the blueprint for boosting investment and industrialisation at the local level and promoting region specific traditional crafts and industries. It would work with partners to accelerate IT sector and attract companies to set up their units.

Meanwhile, the Board is expected to draft an action plan for ensuring the success of the proposed investors’ summit, which is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yogi is likely to review the preparations for the summit as well.

The state government has garnered private investment proposals worth over Rs 2.5 trillion in road shows organised at New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai to create momentum for the summit.

The Board consists of Jagdish Khattar (Carnation Auto), Pankaj Patel (Zydus Cadila), Kulin Lalbhai (Arvind Mills), Ajay Shriram (Shriram Group), U S Bhartia (India Glycols), Tarun Sahni (Triveni Group), Lalit Khaitan (Radico Khaitan), Shishir Jaipuriya (Ginni Filaments), Samir Gupta (Jackson Group), L K Jhunjhunwala (K M Sugar Mills) and Vinay Kumar (Banaras Hotel).

According to sources, most of the members had confirmed their presence for the meeting with the CM on Tuesday.

Apart from industrialists, the Board includes UP finance minister, power minister, infrastructure and industrial development commissioner (IIDC), agricultural production commission (APC), additional chief secretaries of the departments of industry, finance, power, revenue, tax and home, besides Pradeshiya Industrial and Investment Corporation of UP (PICUP) MD.

At the Mumbai event, chief minister Yogi had personally interacted with top industry captains, including Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, to woo them to invest in UP.

The Mumbai roadshow had resulted in maximum investment proposals totaling Rs 1.25 trillion, followed by New Delhi with Rs 270 billion. Now, road shows are scheduled for Kolkata and Ahmedabad on January 5 and 10 respectively.