No new industrial policy yet, still Yogi Adityanath hard-sells 'Brand UP'

The UP chief minister is set to complete his first 100 days in office later this month

On course to completing his first 100 days in the office later this month, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already started to hard sell ‘Brand UP’ to foreign and domestic investors.

This is even as the Yogi government has still not announced its new industrial policy, which has been in the making for past two months.

Over the last few weeks, the CM has met representatives of industry and foreign governments, discussing topics of investment and mutual cooperation in varied fields.

On Tuesday, a US-India Business Council (USIBC) delegation had met Yogi and expressed the desire to facilitate investment in the state by its members. The Council is mandated to encouraging trade links between India and the US.

The USIBC delegation, led by Mukesh Aaghi, had evinced interest in cooperating in education, healthcare, medical devices manufacturing like stents, food processing, potable water techniques, technology, tourism and other sectors.

Talking to Business Standard, UP cabinet minister and spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh, who was also present during the meeting, said the Council was sanguine about the state growth story going forward and wanted to partner UP in facilitating foreign investments.

Yesterday, Assocham President and Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited CMD Sandeep Jajodia had also met Yogi and proposed to work closely with the state in drafting its new industrial policy to make it more attractive and at par with similar frameworks of other progressive states.

The chamber also submitted a six-point 5-year-development agenda to Yogi, which is expected to serve as a ready reckoner for the state in areas needing urgent attention for speedier economic growth.

“We are ready to suggest proactive ways to the UP government to attracting higher Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), since the state lags other states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka etc in this regard,” Jajodia added.

Besides, ambassadors of Israel and Belgium had in recent past met Yogi and discussed ways to accelerate cooperation in development fields, including agriculture, which is the mainstay of the UP economy.

On May 30, Belgian Ambassador Jan Luykx had met Yogi, who solicited the cooperation of the European nation to help UP in cleaning river Ganga before the 2019  Ardh Kumbh, besides the Smart City project.

Earlier on May 16, Israel Ambassador Daniel Carmon held a meeting with Yogi, who expressed keenness to utilising its expertise in power, horticulture, irrigation, science and technology, agriculture and smart city project.

Yogi had even directed the chief secretary to constitute a coordination committee and laid down that efforts be made to forge stronger ties with Israel in the field of agriculture and trade.

On his visit to Lucknow recently, Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had informed UP clocked Rs 18,000 crore worth of software exports annually, which was much below its potential. He noted the software exports could be boosted by almost three times with targetted efforts.