Amitabh Kant says states must cut red tape for India to be a $5 trillion economy

India is “larger than 24 countries of Europe”, and much of the responsibility lies with states, Amitabh Kant said.

Amitabh Kant at the event | Photo: PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry | ThePrint

New Delhi: India cannot become a $5 trillion economy by 2024 until its states become the key drivers of change, bring structural reforms and make business easy, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said at the States’ Policy Conclave 2019.

The conclave, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry with “National Ambition and Regional Aspiration” as its theme, aimed to strengthen the interface between the government and industry.

The keynote speaker at the conclave, Amitabh Kant unequivocally stressed the need for states to reduce the red tape and facilitate businesses.

“I have always been a believer that the government must only facilitate the growth of private businesses, but, over the years, all of us at the Centre and the states have made doing business very complex,” Kant said.

“However, in the last few years, we have scrapped many rules and procedures, which explains why we have jumped up the ladder in the ease of doing business,” added Kant.

In November last year, India climbed 23 points in the World Bank’s Ease Of Doing Business (EoDB) index and was ranked 77th in the world.

Kant said India is “larger than 24 countries of Europe”, and much of the responsibility lies with states.

“PM Modi has said that we aim to reach $5 trillion economy by 2024, but that cannot happen until states can double and triple their GDP,” Kant added.

Competition between states

Kant emphasised the need for states to become agents of change, and for each state to compete with and learn from one another.

He also said many sectors of the Indian economy remained unreformed and were in dire need of change.

The sectors of mining in Jharkhand, and oil and gas across various states, needed reform, Kant said, as did India’s agricultural system. “There have been no market reforms in agriculture, mostly because of legacy issues,” Kant added.

Naming and shaming poor performers

Kant said there were many districts across Indian states that were keeping the country backward. “But PM Modi calls them aspirational districts,” he said.

The ‘Aspirational District Programme’ is a Modi government scheme that ranks them on five main themes — health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, and skill development.

“We measure the reforms in these districts on real-time basis, verified by third parties. This way, the district collectors of these aspirational districts get to know in real-time how they are doing, and what they can learn from other districts,” Kant said.

“Naming and shaming the districts by putting out the ranking in public has forced these districts to take action,” he added.

States working together

The conclave included participants from the governments of Jharkhand, Haryana and Punjab.

Punjab additional chief secretary Vini Mahajan said India succeeds when the Centre and the states work together. “We need to pull together for the sake of our people,” Mahajan said.

Last year, she added, a team of officials from Punjab and Tamil Nadu went to Taiwan together.

The Taiwanese leaders and businesses told them about how the global trade wars were making them look at India much more seriously than ever before, Mahajan said. The joint team briefed the Taiwanese about the opportunities in India.

ThePrint is the Digital Media Partner of the event.