'Centre, state govts should focus on policy implementation'

The newly-elected CII Northern Region chairman Shreekant Somany today said both central and state governments should focus on early implementation of policies, projects and reforms to remove procedural and other bottlenecks to attract investments in the northern region.
"CII believes that various new initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Clean Ganga, Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana, plan for Smart Cities, can turn out to be real game changers, if implemented well", he said here.
"Further, it is also imperative to fast-track stalled infrastructure and manufacturing projects along with dedicated industrial and freight corridors like AKIC, DMIC, western and eastern corridors in order to provide the much needed fillip to growth in North, which is otherwise landlocked and away from raw materials and ports", he added.

He stated that these corridors have the potential to greatly enhance industrial activity and emerge as game changers for growth and expansion of industries in the northern region.
These corridors would immensely reduce cost of transportation of raw material and finished goods to north both from within and outside the country. A substantial part of these corridors would pass through the region, he said.
Out of the total 1,839 kms of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, about 1,209 kms (65.7 per cent) falls in the northern region, connecting the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the north to West Bengal on the east coast.

Similarly, 50.2 per cent of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (about 745 kms) falls in the northern region connecting the states of Haryana and Rajasthan to ports of Gujarat and Maharashtra on the west coast, which can be a boon for north", he added.
Against this backdrop, CII Northern Region has adopted 'Build India, Build North: Invest in Development' as the theme for 2015-16.
CII's endeavors would primarily focus on facilitating investments, enhancing ease of doing business, promoting 'Make in North', pushing for GST consensus, ensuring peaceful industrial relations, enhancing MSMEs competitiveness, supporting agriculture, strengthening infrastructure (both social and industrial) and societal initiatives, Somany added.