North India prepares to have common economy

A North Indian 'Common Economy' has to be created and implemented through a Standing Committee of chief secretaries, which will be run by the Prime Minister's Office, TKA Nair, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, said yesterday.

The "Common Economy" will focus on power, e-governance, taxation and drinking water. "To evolve the consensus, the committee should meet periodically and review the progress," Nair emphasised.

He was inaugurating the chief secretaries' summit which was organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce (PHDCCI). Besides the 200 delegates from the northern region, chief secretaries and senior functionaries from 10 states attended the deliberation.

The summit unanimously endorsed the concept of common market to enhance economic growth in the north. The gross domestic product growth rate of north India will increase by 2 per cent if trade barriers are removed, the PHDCCI report stated.

The delegates largely agreed to this proposal and assured appropriate changes to be made to reduce, if not totally remove, the inter-state trade barriers.

"The number of smaller barriers, set up during the time our state was being carved out, was 15. However, now we are planning to integrate them to five check points, enabling easy trade," said SK Das, chief secretary, Uttarakhand.

Demand for installation of the Tax Information Exchange System and standardisation in the value added tax (VAT) structure, to reduce high transaction cost for corporates and also facilitating implementation of the single goods and services tax, was made by the chamber to which the states replied individually.

While most of the states were in favour of these demands, Uttar Pradesh representative Ajit Seth, resident commisioner, said due to the ongoing state elections, a stand on VAT would not be possible.

The other issues that dominated the discussions were, power and drinking water and e-governance.

The industry body had recommended expediting hydro-electric projects and encouraging renewable energy development. Power distribution remained the weakest link in the power sector and needed much more attention, according to the chamber.