'Land acquisition to become difficult with lapse of ordinance'

A day after government decided not to re-promulgate land ordinance, top banker Naina Lal Kidwai today said it would make "difficult" for the industry to acquire land and states should bring industry-friendly policies to attract capital.
"We are certainly in a period where land acquisition is going to be difficult... In our desire to be fair to farmers as we should be, the land bill of 2013 has clearly made it much harder for industry and for infrastructure and investment," Kidwai, the country head of HSBC, said on the sidelines of a Ficci event here.
She said it was now up to the states to introduce investment-friendly policies to attract investments and make the process of acquiring land easier.

"So, it is going to be important that the solutions be found and if the correction in the Bill was not to happen at the national level which is unfortunate, we are now left with no other solution but to hope the states in their desire to attract capital will solve some of these issues.
"Every state wants infrastructure so they should be in a position to make that possible. Industry wants infrastructure where it is free to acquire land for themselves but of course the policies today are very hard so can we see the states coming up with solutions which make it easier," Kidwai said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday announced that the government will not re-promulgate the controversial Ordinance on Land Acquisition which expires today and declared readiness to incorporate any suggestion in the bill, which is pending in Rajya Sabha.
She, however, pointed out that the Modi government has been "unabashedly pro-industry".
"It (government) is not afraid to recognise that you need growth and for growth you need industry, manufacturing and services to move in line. So that and some of the policy announcements clearly point in that direction," Kidwai said.