UP govt to draft new retail, financial services, handicraft sector policies

Uttar Pradesh gearing up to lay foundation of projects worth more than Rs 1 trn in Dec

Even as Uttar Pradesh gears up for laying the foundation of projects totalling more than Rs 1 trillion in December, the Yogi Adityanath government has also planned to draft new policies in job-oriented sectors of handicraft and retail to amplify its 'ease of doing business' pitch.

New policies have also been planned in some other sectors, including financial services and data centres. These policies are expected to give a fillip to these sectors and project UP as an attractive investment destination, apart from boosting fresh employment and self-employment opportunities.

UP Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey has directed officials to expedite the process of drafting these new policies.

The advent of e-commerce and entry of global retail majors in India has virtually opened the floodgates for foreign investment in the burgeoning retail and e-commerce sectors, although small traders have been up in arms citing danger to their businesses and prospective mass unemployment owing to distorted competition.

The Indian economy is projected to grow significantly in the coming years and touch $10 trillion by 2035, as such there would be concurrent boom in the trade and business sectors. In this backdrop, the Centre is also mulling formulating a national retail policy to facilitate balanced growth of trade. In fact, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has already written to the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry about protecting the interests of small retailers while welcoming foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail.  

Due to its large population base, UP has emerged as one of the key markets for retail giants, including Amazon and Walmart, who have planned to expand their operations in the state going forward.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting will be held in Lucknow on November 2-3 with investors and industrialists, whose projects constitute the total of 158 projects worth Rs 1 trillion lined up for the 'ground breaking ceremony' in December 2018, the dates of which would be ascertained in due course. 

On July 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation of projects worth Rs 600 billion. These are part of the Rs 4.68 trillion worth of investment proposals, comprising over 1,000 projects, which were netted by the Adityanath government at the UP Investors' Summit, which has held on February 21-22, 2018. The summit was inaugurated by Modi.

On July 14, Modi had laid the foundation of the 341-km proposed Purvanchal Expressway, which is estimated to cost Rs 230 billion. The state government is working on three other mega-infrastructure projects -- the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor, Bundelkhand Expressway and Jewar International Airport.

While the defence corridor will be set up with an initial investment of Rs 200 billion, the 289-km Bundelkhand Expressway is estimated to cost nearly Rs 100 billion. The Jewar Airport project is estimated to cost nearly Rs 160 billion.