Gaining Momentum
The invest in Jharkhand roadshow gets a thumbs up from India Inc
At Momentum Jharkhand, a marquee event to attract fresh investment, the state also seemed to be staring at a contradiction: while Jharkhand’s real income has crossed 8 per cent (in terms of GSDP) for the fourth consecutive year, last year it slipped from third to seventh position in ‘ease of doing business’.
Inaugurating the mega show—avidly promoted by cricket icon M.S. Dhoni on TV—on February 16, Arun Jaitley spoke of Jharkhand’s abundant mineral wealth as a resource that gives the state the potential to grow 4 to 5 per cent higher than the national average. The Union finance minister was, embarrassingly, referring to the fact that Jharkhand’s growth rate is barely one percentage point higher than India’s.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das, keen to use Momentum Jharkhand as a catalyst for greater growth, inked 210 fresh MoUs with some of India’s top corporate honchos, including Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia and others promising more investments. Das says he will ensure at least 172 of these translate to actual investments on the ground within a year. If the MoUs pan out, they have the potential of creating 200,000-plus jobs, which could be critical in bringing Das a second term after the polls in 2019.
Some of Das’s confidence comes from the 4.38 lakh acre land pool his government has been able to create. So the tedious process of acquiring land for industrial projects is no longer a problem. The CM’s confidence has rubbed off on others too. Tata Sons doyen Ratan Tata declared at the summit that the “time was ripe” to invest in Jharkhand.