Move from “ease” of doing business to “please” of doing business: Suresh Prabhu

 

Saying that India should now move from ‘ease of doing business” to “please of doing business”, Mr Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, said that it was critical that the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country was “nurtured and allowed to flourish” . Mr Prabhu was addressing the session entitled “The reform calculus: Promoting ease of doing business” at the CII Partnership Summit 2018 being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the State Government of Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam. He said that dynamic chief ministers like Chandrababu Naidu “have made my job as federal minster for commerce and industry easier as I can bask in his glory.”
 

He said that what was unique about Andhra Pradesh was that “not only had it made its investing processes totally transparent but also offered customised solutions to individual businesses which is a paradigm shift in the way business was being done in the state.”
 

Mr Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, said that if “Andhra Pradesh were a country, it would rank 88th in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index” . He said that his goal was to take his state to “64^th rank in the first phase and reach 40^th rank in the second phase, with the ultimate goal of being among the top 5 investment destinations by 2050 globally.”
 

“I am benchmarking my goals with the top countries of the world in the ease of doing business rankings,” Mr Naidu said, pointing out that already “30% of business proposals are given approvals on the spot and the rest of the 70% are only taking a maximum of 21days.”
 

Ms Shobana Kamineni, President, CII, said that while the ease of doing business was important and critical, it was time that the Indian industry “doubled-down” on the “business of doing business” . She said that the Indian industry bodies should come together and raise their voice to enable the growth and development of Indian business.  The CII President also pointed to the criticality of ensuring that the parameters of measuring ease of doing business should also include the criteria of friendliness of government policies towards the growth of MSMEs.
 

Ms Kamineni also said that it was time that India started producing “large world class companies” through the easing of doing business by encouraging and facilitating participation by “anchor investors, even from abroad.”
 

Mr Sameer Garde, President-India & SAARC, Cisco Systems Inc said that it was important to link the efforts to enhance the ease of doing business with the ‘livability index” so that the needs of “bottom of the pyramid are also addressed through the use of technology and processes.”
 

While appreciating the quest for ‘Make in India’ and launching of defense-corridors in south India, Mr Phil Shaw, Chief Executive-India, Lockheed Martin, wanted India to also consider the imperative for creating a larger ecosystem in the defense and aerospace sector by “moving beyond the adoption of the lowest-cost technical solutions paradigm.” He also called for “predictability in procurement” by the Indian government.
 

Saying that he “believed in India” , Mr Myron Brilliant, Executive Vice President and Head of International Affairs, USIBC US Chamber of Commerce, emphasised that any country that is projected to grow from a $2.5 trillion economy today to a $10 trillion economy in 15 years cannot be ignored.”
 

Praising the vision and execution prowess demonstrated by the CM, he said, “May be (US) President (Donald) Trump can learn something from him.” He called on Andhra Pradesh to mark its presence in the US by opening an office in the US. “While 15 US states have offices in India, there is no presence of Indian states in the US,” Mr Brilliant said.
 

Mr Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, Secretary General, International Investor Council, UAE, pointed to the “similarities in vision” between what was happening in India and Andhra Pradesh to what was being done in his own country.
 

He said that UAE was “moving from an oil-based economy to knowledge-based economy as innovation is the key to success.”
 

Giving an overview of the history of economic development of Spain after its joined the European Union, Mr Jose Luis Kaiser, Director General, International Trade and Investments, Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, Spain said, “It is important that the reforms that were happening in states like Andhra Pradesh must be replicated all over India which would lead to rapid and dramatic rise in the Indian economy.”
 

Inspired by India’s success in raising its rank in ease of doing business, Mr U Aung Htoo, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar, said that his country had “committed to raise its own ranking from a lowly 170 at present to 100 within three years.”
 

Mr Soumitra Dutta, Founding Dean, Cornell SC Johnsons College of Business, USA, who moderated the session said that the potential for India to move up the ease of doing business rankings was “immense”. “Just one insolvency legislation witnessed moving from 131 to 100. So, imagine what other reforms could do to out rankings. Just think of the potential”, he asked.
 

The session concluded with the inauguration of plaques signifying the foundation for setting up an Indian Institute of Foreign Trade campus and an Indian Institute of Packaging campus in Kakinada. Also, enrolment cards were distributed to aquaculture farmers.