UP govt gets 7 e-bids for appointment of consultant

LUCKNOW : The Uttar Pradesh government has received seven e-bids, including those from top companies like Deloitte, BCG and Grant Thronton, for the appointment of a consultant to draw a roadmap to boost the size of the state’s economy to one trillion dollars over the next five years (2022-2027).

The state government is evaluating the e-bids and technical presentations by the bidders are likely to be made by mid-June. Those aware of the development indicated names of four out of seven bidding companies. These include Deloitte, BCG and Grant Thronton and Invest India that have submitted their e-bids.

The state government had invited the e-bids by May 24 and the technical bids were opened on May 25.

“We are in the process of technical evaluation of the bids and the bidders are likely to be asked to make technical presentations by mid-June. We hope to open the financial bids by the end of June 2022,” said Alok Kumar III, secretary, state planning department, when asked to comment on the issue. The state government has also worked out roadmaps for different departments, said Kumar.

The Directorate of Economics and Statistics, UP government, in its advance estimates, has indicated that the state’s GSDP for 2021-2022 is about Rs 19.10 lakh crore.

The estimates of the state budget for 2022-2023 indicate that the GSDP will reach Rs 20.48 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year. So, the consultant to be appointed will be tasked with boosting the GSDP’s size by nearly four times.

“The UP government faces a tough challenge to complete the bidding process well in time so that the consultant company selected could start its work soon. The first year of the fiveyear timeline given to the consultant has already begun. The consultant needs to work out a roadmap to take the size of the GSDP to nearly four times. At the base year of 2021-2022, this would require an annual growth rate of 32%,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department, economics, Lucknow University.

This is for the second time that the state government is reaching the final stages of the process of appointment of consultant to be tasked to work out a roadmap to boost the GSDP to one trillion dollars. The state government had earlier floated international bids to appoint a consultant on June 19, 2019.

After zeroing down on selection of consultant, it cancelled the e-bids on March 22, 2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had floated the idea of making the state a trillion-dollar economy at Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit-2018 held here on February 21, 2018. Modi had referred to his association with the investors’ summit as the chief minister of Gujarat and later with the UP Investors Summit-2018 as the PM, and said Maharashtra, too, had set a target to become a trillion-dollar economy.

“Can Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh compete with each other to become a trillion-dollar economy? Will the UP government compete with other states? More the competition, the more will be the investment. This will result in the creation of more jobs and strengthen the concept of cooperative federalism,” he said at the UP Investors Summit here.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his team soon began working on the idea and formal process of floating global bids for the appointment of a consultant began on June 19, 2020.

We are in the process of technical evaluation of the bids and the bidders are likely to be asked to make technical presentations by mid-June