<div><strong>Arshad Khan</strong><br><br>Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday (10 September) that India has the capacity to produce more power but the weak demand prevents the sector from adding existing power generation capacity. “Slew of government policies will help the power sector to overcome the poor demand,” said Sitharaman.</div><div> </div><div>Power analysts feel that the statement made by the ministry is contradictory since electricity supply is an issue in major parts of the country.</div><div> </div><div>On the long pending infrastructure projects, she said that government is providing long term funding to complete the delayed projects. She adds, “Problem such as arrears in payments to small and medium contractors during the previous regime will be sorted out to encourage SMEs to participate in building infrastructure.”</div><div> </div><div>The minister also said that the number of policies and the steps taken under the new government to will improve India’s ranking in the next ease of doing business index. Currently, India is ranked 142 among 189 nations in the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business 2015' index.</div><div> </div><div>She said that the country will benefit when the states will play the role of a facilitator between private companies and regulatory bodies. “Since the central government took 29 states on board in December last year to make PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative successful, states are showing positive results in promoting business and fighting red-tapism,” said the minister.</div><div> </div><div>To increase industrial competitiveness between states, the World Bank together with a professional agency will release the ranking of Indian state on 'ease of doing business' in a week, informed Sitharaman.</div><div> </div><div>Addressing a session to boost investment in the north Indian states, the minister said that since the region is growing at the rate of 7.74 per cent and contributing 30 per cent in the national GDP, there is a huge opportunity for domestic and foreign firms to invest in sectors such as energy, automobile, aerospace etc.</div>
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