<div><em>The state has made huge strides in resolving the politically sensitive issue of land acquisition, reports Suchetana Ray</em></div><div> </div><div>Within a year of the bifurcation of the state, Andhra Pradesh (AP) under the leadership of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu seems to have made an impact on investors by facilitating ease of doing business. The state has bagged the second position just below Gujarat, in the World Bank report on Ease of Doing Business.</div><div> </div><div>Highlighting the good practices of the state, the report states: “Single Desk Policy 2015-20 of the Government of Andhra Pradesh has been formulated to create a facilitative ecosystem to provide all clearances/approvals within 21 working days to set up an industry. All relevant competent authorities are mandated to receive applications and process the same only via Single Desk mechanisms. Single Desk Mechanism provides for State clearances required for starting an industry across pre establishment and pre operation phases. A Chief Minister’s dashboard has been designed as a tool for effective monitoring of the applications received.” </div><div> </div><div>With an enviable score of 70.12 per cent on a 98 point score card, Andhra Pradesh is keen to implement more changes and move up the ladder of Indian states as the most preferred destination for doing business. “Andhra Pradesh is ranked in the category of ‘Aspiring Leaders’ along with 6 other states. By next year, we will definitely work towards making it to the list of “Leaders” category by targeting 90 per cent plus compliance” says Kartikeya Misra, Director in the Department of Industry and CEO of AP Invest.<br><br>He further explains the measures that his state is keen to implement in the next one year, “We are continuously working on improving business environment in the state for new as well as existing investors. We will simplify tax procedures through reduced timelines and automation; fast track incentives claim for industries and make the process more efficient, transparent and e-enabled; institutionalise investor facilitation and handholding at District level; and simplify land allotment procedures in rural areas.” </div><div> </div><div>The report also lauds AP’s efforts in having comprehensive details of land bank available online. In fact, the state has made huge strides in resolving the politically sensitive issue of land acquisition. AP’s experiment with voluntary land pooling could provide an alternative to forcible land acquisition and could be a model that other states could look at adopting. And Misra says that, “Land pooling for the Capital Region in Andhra Pradesh has been quite successful. About 35,000 acres has been pooled in the fastest land pooling exercise anywhere. Land pooling is now a proven mechanism for executing public projects which lead to significant value accretion.”</div><div> </div><div>The race to the top gets tougher next year with the score card becoming more competitive, but AP is resolute that it’s the number one slot that it wants. Misra elucidates the state’s one-eyed focus to this, “Over the next one year, our focus is on nurturing our MSME sector, minimising requirements of inspections for industries and creating an environment of trust and credibility for industries in the State. Some of the steps that we intend to take up are.”</div><div> </div><div>With this assessment of ease of doing business proposed to be an annual exercise, all states are expected to try and improve their scores and ranking, which would promote PM Narendra Modi’s vision of competitive federalism and attract private investment since a study of this nature is likely to influence investor perception.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>
