Jharkhand’s Investment Campaign To Go Global

Govt of Jharkhand signed several MoUs catering to sectors such as multispecialty healthcare and medical education, skills development and technical education, textiles, tourism, ITeS and e-governance with Industry leaders.

The Government of Jharkhand today held its seminal investment promotion roadshow in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the city, under the banner “Momentum Jharkhand Global Investors’ Summit 2017”. It was the campaign’s second rendezvous with Mumbai following the maiden meeting of the Jharkhand Investment Promotion Board in July this year. JIPB is a special body for planning and executing strategies to enhance Jharkhand's position as a global business centre.

In his opening remarks, Mr Ninad Karpe, CMD – Aptech Ltd commended the Government of Jharkhand for boosting the brand visibility of the State through a strong focus on cluster-centric approach for sustainable industrial diversification.

In her keynote Ms Rajbala Verma, Chief Secretary, Jharkhand said, “Given that Mumbai accounts for a large chunk of the country’s industrial output and national GDP, we have come here again to make Jharkhand more visible to the investors of this city.” Smt. Verma highlighted some recent MoUs signed by the Government of Jharkhand in the recent past. “We have successfully matched investment opportunities with global industry trends – through focused and dynamic policies catering to a wide spectrum of sectors. These policies are indicative of the larger intent of business reforms,” she added.

Ms Verma stated that Jharkhand is about to launch a dedicated Start-up policy and a highly responsive e-mentoring system for start-up entrepreneurs, and that the Chief Minister recently supervised the inking of MoUs with 42 service providers in the area of skills development.

Mr Gaurav Taneja of the campaign’s knowledge partner Ernst & Young, said, “In the last 18 months, we have seen paradigm shifts in the state. Jharkhand is leading nationally in e-Governance, especially under Digital India’s e-services and digitization fronts. The rollout of the National Optic Fibre System to the remotest parts of Jharkhand is being accomplished at a very fast pace. Jharkhand’s forward-looking policies have now put the State on the international investor map. This leadership has actually brought a revolutionary attitudinal shift – from the role of a regulator to that of a facilitator. From multimodal infrastructure, housing, power generation, to higher education and skills development, the Government of Jharkhand has taken momentous steps that match global benchmarks.”

Industries Secretary Mr Sunil Kumar Barnwal persuasively presented the State’s diverse investment opportunities to the audience. “The Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2016 forms the basic framework of our mission to make Jharkhand the most business-friendly state in India. There are several investment-ready projects, information on which is publicly available through our publication, Shelf of Projects. The projects span across sectors such as smart city development, electronic manufacturing, BPO, food processing, industrial parks, healthcare and education, etc. We have succeeded in concurrently establishing thriving systems of single-window clearance, time-bound grievance redress, industry consultation mechanisms, and multi-pronged incentive schemes,” he added.
Mr Barnwal informed the audience that Jharkhand’s air-cargo hub will be inaugurated soon, boosting the role of the State in logistics in Eastern India and further. “The competitive costs of doing business in Jharkhand are the lowest in India, especially owing to power tariff and liberalized labour regulation,” he said.

On the start-up front, Mr Barnwal informed the audience that the State Government has brought on board a team from IIM Ahmedabad to help set up a centralised Start-up Incubation Facility. On the sidelines of the roadshow, the Government was scheduled to interact with several venture capitalists to promote the government’s start-up strategy.

Sharing his experience, Mr Sudhir Dhingra, Chairman of Orient Craft Ltd, said, “In my experience of 41 years, I believe no government has understood the all-encompassing social and economic benefits of the textiles industry, before my meeting with Chief Minister Shri Raghubar Das and his team. Ever since the meeting, the Government has tirelessly wanted to take the relationship to fruition. The textiles industry has an unprecedented opportunity through Jharkhand to enhance its competitiveness and competency to global standards, and catch up with Bangladesh, China and Southeast Asia – and expand India’s global trade share of the textiles sector from a meagre US$16 billion out of US$600 billion. Today the Indian textiles sector employs about 40 million people. Jharkhand is among the very few systems with a genuine promise and political will to do justice to this labour-intensive sector. Orient Craft will be signing two agreements with Jharkhand – one to set up a park of more than 140 acres and the second, to set up a skilling centre for the sector.”

Mr Seshagiri Rao, Joint Managing Director and Group CFO, JSW Group, expressed confidence in Jharkhand’s industrial diversification plan while further strengthening its core sectors of mining, metallurgy and energy. “The four prime determinants of investor confidence are – factors of production, comprehensive connectivity for supply chains, ease of doing business and security and safety – I am happy that the Government of Chief Minister Shri Raghubar Das is strongly focused on these four key factors. We will invest in a steel plant of 10 MTPA with 35,000 cr – with a perspective expansion to 300 MTPA output in 10 years. Also, we will set up a captive power plant. This project will boost Jharkhand’s share in national steel production from the present 17%,” he said.

Mr T.V. Narendran, Managing Director, Tata Steel (India & S.E. Asia) emphasised the key role Jharkhand plays in boosting global investments in India’s exploration and mining sector with the primary objective of achieving greater efficiencies. “Industries Secretary Mr Barnwal did well to mention that the time the foundation of India’s first steel plant, the backbone of Make in India was being conceived, around the same time, this hotel in Mumbai was being conceived by Tata Group’s founder JN Tata. Jharkhand already has an international presence. Our investments in the State involve joint ventures with the most established steel companies in Japan and Australia. Jharkhand is rich in minerals, but is richer in human resources. What better to have an ecosystem that houses the Indian Bureau of Mines and knowledge hubs such as XLRI. Jharkhand is increasingly creating hope and excitement for Eastern India, in a highly competitive ecology involving East and Southeast Asia. As someone with more than 100 years of experience in the region, we are convinced that this is the best time to invest in Jharkhand,” he added.

Mr Suman Bose, MD & CEO of Seimens Industry Software, “With a childhood in Deogarh and being an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur, this is homecoming for me. I am convinced that India’s growth agenda is pivoted on the imperative of inclusive empowerment through skilling and livelihood creation. We are contributing by building integrated systems for training and certification across a diverse array of sectors of Jharkhand, including heavy industry and manufacturing. What surprised me was the speed and enthusiasm with which the Government of Jharkhand reached out to us and closed the loop at every step.”

Dr. Neera Yadav, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of Jharkhand, stressed on the centrality of the skills development agenda of the Government in this campaign. “MoUs have been signed with CISCO, ORACLE and Hewlett Packard among global corporations in the field of skills development, so that Jharkhand is ready for the next phase of technology-leveraged industrial diversification. This strategy will greatly develop the support system that Jharkhand’s key industries need to compete globally. Jharkhand’s present higher education gross enrolment ratio is 16.1%. But I am convinced that soon we will vault over the national average and start aspiring to better global standards. We aim to set up more than 600 institutions of higher education over the coming years. I call upon private institutions to partner with us in our mission,” she added, commending the inspiring vision and leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister Mr Das.

Mr Chandreshwar Prasad Singh, Hon’ble Minister of Urban Development, Government of Jharkhand, said, “The government of Shri Raghubar Das, on being given the people’s mandate, in a matter of just 20 months, achieved political stability for the state. Our governance systems are focusing on making Jharkhand cities more amenable to housing global communities of investors through a strong focus on the social sector, principally healthcare, education and public recreation. We call upon investors to invest in our smart city project on Public-Private Partnership basis.” Besides, solid waste management, multimodal urban transport andhousing for all are key sectors in which the government is soliciting private investments.

Hon’ble Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Shri Raghubar Das, in his address, said, “While Mumbai is the Gateway to India, Jharkhand is fast emerging as the gateway to ‘Make In India’. Our campaign took off seven months ago with the blessings of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in this city, during the ‘Make in India’ Week. It was the vision of our foremost industrial pioneers, Jamshetji Tata that set the tone for Make in India back in 1907 in Jamshedpur. Jharkhand has incomparable natural beauty. Its beauty has the potential to pull people from across the oceans. Jharkhand’s people and institutions have made a global mark in areas from manufacturing to education and sports. Jharkhand is a rich land. But poverty still looms large within. It is our mission to deliver our people out of this poverty. You, the industry and investors, are our partners in this mission. Our governance is policy-driven and one of high integrity. We are committed to sustainable wealth creation and shared prosperity. We call upon one and all to be part of our mission, Momentum Jharkhand Global Investors’ Summit 2017, as a team.” Shri Das reiterated his resolve to synergise education, skills development, infrastructural development and livelihood generation to empower the youth of Jharkhand and prevent further attrition of its human resource.

Mr Amit Khare, Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, Government of Jharkhand, delivered the note of thanks. “Jharkhand has tremendous potential. The challenge is to optimally utilize that potential. Our focus is on ensuring the most competitive policies, which should be secured by utmost commitment and integrity. The key driver is the decisiveness of the team Jharkhand leadership. Every commitment given will be honoured.”

Details of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed during the Mumbai roadshow:

1. Orient Craft Ltd.– Textiles Sector – to set up two manufacturing parks of more than 140 acres with an investment of INR1,500 crore
2. MNR Education Trust– Education Sector – to set up an integrated Medical & Paramedical Education Campus of more than 80 acres – through investment of INR350 crore over five years
3. Tata Steel Ltd– Mining and Metallurgy Sector – CSR mandate to set up a soft-skills system for comprehensive training of youth
4. Tech Mahindra – IT-ITeS – strategic MoU for skills development and student exchange programmes for sectors such as robotics and cloud computing, and to set up an incubation centre and BPO unit.
5. Desun Hospital & Heart Research Institute –Healthcare & Medical Education – to set up a 500-bed multispecialty hospital, a 1,300-seat nursing institution and a 300-seat paramedic institution in Ranchi.
6. Fuel – Skills Development – to conduct skills assessment and capacity building programmes across the state over 10 years.
7. Vakarangee Limited– e-Governance – to set up more than 1,600 (of which 1,100 will be in rural areas) Vakarangee kendras (centres) across Jharkhand over the next 5 years to serve e-services (B2B & B2C) to public facilities.
8. Bokaro Sewa Trust in association with Rama University Kanpur– Healthcare & Medical Education – to set up a 300-bed Super-specialty hospital and Medical research centre in Bokaro with an investment of INR100 crore.

The roadshow witnessed the launch of six new policies, representing a strategic diversification of the mineral and human resource rich state’s industrial landscape. The policies launched:

1. Information Technology & IT Enabled Services (IT/ITeS)
2. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
3. Start-up (best start-up policy among seven leading states in terms of ecosystem incentives)
4. Electronic Systems Design & Manufacturing (ESDM)
5. Automobile and Auto Components (best in class incentives for OEMs and ancillaries)
6. Textiles & Footwear