'Investors are welcome, but no grabbing of farmland'

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN talks to Shashikant Trivedi about his outlook on investment in the state. Edited excerpts:

After five such Global Investors Summits, how do you see Madhya Pradesh (MP) as an investment destination?

The latest summit has attracted investors and high dignitaries from 42 countries; five of these countries are partners to this summit. As many as 4,000 people from India and abroad came and nearly 300 business-to-business and business-to-government deals were inked. It has opened new vistas for us. Madhya Pradesh is now ready to take off.

You often say MP maintained double-digit growth for almost the entire past decade, with an unprecedented rate in agriculture. What was your strategy?

We focused on creating irrigation facilities for farms. Our state was in a dire need of this; MP’s is an agrarian economy. We have not only created irrigation capacity from the earlier 750,000 hectares (ha) to 3.6 million ha; we want to attain six million ha in the coming years. We’re now also focusing on all available options – piped irrigation, sprinklers, micro irrigation. Farmers should be able to use every drop of water. We will adopt all the modern techniques.

What after attaining the targeted irrigation potential?

Since this summit is more focused on the farm sector and allied activities, including food processing, I am more interested in seeing if our investors can do more for farmers. I want food processing industries to take shape, so that our farmers can have better return on their yields. My government has made all possible efforts to create a system for ensuring more ease of doing business and the farm sector will get priority.

Are you saying MP can be a model for other states?

Each state has its own speciality, merits, conditions. My government has focused on what to do in which region. We have a supportive central government, under our visionary prime minister, and a good chance to improve our road map of development.

 You have created a land bank for investors. Did it come from non-arable land?

Yes, and government land. We are welcoming all investors from home and abroad but not snatching land from farmers and giving it away to industrialists. Agriculture is our mainstay; there will no conflict between industry and our farmers.

On ease of doing business, what have you promised to potential investors here?

We will make our delivery system more responsive, by bringing certain services under the Public Service Guarantee Act. We have promised that exemptions to investors will continue even after the (new) goods and services tax regime. And, we will use technology to make faster the processes at the government’s end. 

On the amount of investment, how do you place this summit?

More than 40 countries are here. I travelled extensively to showcase the potential of Madhya Pradesh. As a result, this summit will conclude with an intention to invest Rs 5,62,887 crore in various sectors. It reflects the hard work of each member of my government.

 No further investor summits?

The journey of development will continue. We will meet again in 2019.