At Davos, Madhya Pradesh promotes itself as India's emerging economic tiger

Promoting itself as "India's emerging economic tiger", Madhya Pradesh government Thursday invited global investors to the country's biggest state with promise of all necessary infrastructure and a favourable business ecosystem.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath said Madhya Pradesh is not a fully urbanised state and it was largely rural-focussed mainly on agriculture.

Terming job creation and agriculture as his main focus areas, the senior Congress leader said he wants to ensure that agriculture is linked to the industrial growth in the state and the new industries that come up create employment in a big way.

He said there is a deep-rooted frustration over jobs, not just in Madhya Pradesh but in the entire country, and this can create a big social problem if not tackled immediately.

He was addressing investors at a session here on the sidelines of the WEF annual meeting.

The 'Invest Madhya Pradesh' session was organised by the Madhya Pradesh government and leading industry chamber CII to promote the state as "India's emerging economic tiger'.

Nath has been a regular at Davos as a union minister in the past, but has come for the first time as chief minister this time.

He urged investors to look at his state differently than they did earlier, saying he was doing his best and the investors should also do their best now.

Nath said several states have set up pavilions here, but he has none as he wants the investors to talk about the business opportunities available in in the state.

'MP intends to do better on ease of doing business'

Madhya Pradesh's Chief Secretary S R Mohanty said, "apart from being biggest state, it has been blessed with a whole lot of minerals, is a power surplus state and has a huge road network and even the Narmada water is reserved for the industry there."

He also promised a round the clock single-window business facilitation service for the industry and investors.

He said the state intends to do much better in terms of ease of doing business (it is ranked seventh right now) and the Kamal Nath government is committed to resolve whatever issues are there coming in way of industrial growth of the state.

Mohanty further noted that airlines have increased their flights to the state soon after Kamal Nath became the new chief minister and intend to further increase their connectivity in the coming weeks and months.

In what he described as a unique benefit available to the investors, he said Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country with a 'tax-delinked policy'.

The main focus industries include agriculture, automobile, textiles etc and now the state wants to focus on next generation technologies such as nano technology and artificial intelligence to make up for the state having lagged behind some others in the area of software and technology businesses.

The chief minister is committed in creating an extensive skill development framework in the state, the senior official said.

Our basic focus is on job creation while embarking on an industrial development path, he said.

He promised land at competitive rates for the industries and all necessary steps to improve business ecosystem in the state.

The session was also addressed by CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee and representatives of companies that already have a presence in Madhya Pradesh. It was also attended by those having made commitments to invest in the state.

Click on the links below for more from the WEF annual summit. And be sure to check out the India Today at Davos page.