During his interaction with a 50-member US delegation last month, the chief minister assured that the state will ensure a business friendly atmosphere and a single window system for investors. The chief minister also said that two expressways were being built to ease transportation. The Purvanchal Expressway from Lucknow to Ghazipur will link Varanasi, Ayodhya and Gorakhpur. The Bundelkhand Expressway will pass through Agra, Jhansi, Chitrakoot and connect with Bundelkhand.

The delegation, representing 26 major US firms, also had detailed interaction with state cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh to explore investment opportunities in UP. The delegation visited the state capital under the aegis of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and had detailed interaction with the officials of state government as well.

The US delegation was assured by the state government that uninterrupted power supply, better road connectivity along with other necessary facilities and proper law and order will be ensured. Over two dozen US companies are understood to have evinced keen interest to invest in UP.

As part of its attempts to attract investments in the state, the Yogi Adityanath government had appointed Ernst & Young as its investment promotion consultants. Akhilesh Yadav had also engaged EY as consultant. EY will help UP leverage its new industrial policy and prepare a roadmap for attracting investors from India and overseas through a series of road shows and investor summits. The state government is looking to hold global investor summits in March and October next year to project Uttar Pradesh as an attractive investment destination.

During his recent visit to Mauritius, Yogi addressed an investor meet with NRIs and asked them to invest in UP and promised full cooperation, and better industrial climate and friendly bureaucracy to work on a single window clearance system. He asked the NRIs to take advantage of UP government’s “Find Your Root” scheme and visit the places where their ancestors were born and had grown up.

Another major investor meet is being planned on February 21 and 22 in New Delhi, aiming to attract investments of over Rs 50,000 crores. President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have already been invited to the event and attempts are being made to invite the prime ministers of Mauritius and Nepal also.

High level delegations of UP government officials will visit New Delhi to invite diplomats and ambassadors from various countries for the summit. Invitations are also being sent to top corporate leaders to participate in the meet.

As a part of a publicity and promotion campaign, the industries department of UP will conduct road shows in important cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata.

In order to expedite clearance of files relating to the investment meets, the CMO is directly involved and Yogi Adityanath is personally monitoring the arrangements.

During the governments of Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, several investment meets were held and several MoUs signed with foreign and Indian companies, but these proposals did not get translated as the ground the situation remained unchanged. The main problems highlighted by the prospective investors were the law and order problem, failure to provide power to industries and large scale red tapism and not-so-friendly bureaucracy.

It is, therefore, a testing time for Yogi Adityanath to not only get new MoUs signed but also to see that such investments are in the interest of the state. More investments would mean more employment, which is the biggest challenge that the state is facing. (IPA Service)