High on Enterprise
Gujarat continues to be an industrial powerhouse with impressive GSDP and FDI figures
Gujarat always had strong fundamentals, so it is no surprise that it is India’s leading state in economic terms. It contributes 7.7 per cent to the country’s GDP, even though it comprises only 5 per cent of India’s population. Poverty reduction has been one of the state’s biggest achievements: only 5 per cent of its people are below the poverty line. The state also saw a record Rs 18,325 crore in FDI in the first quarter of FY20. With a 17 per cent share of the country’s industrial output, Gujarat is second only to Maharashtra.
Among the state’s pro-business initiatives are the Gujarat MSME (Facilitation) Ordinance of 2019, the Gujarat Single Window Clearance Act, a revamped investor facilitation portal (online applications have doubled this year) and the new Gujarat Shops and Establishments Act, which allows businesses to stay open 365 days a year.
Gujarat is blessed in having an efficient bureaucracy, an enterprising business class, excellent infrastructure, including roads, urban and rural development and a robust agriculture infrastructure. The industrial sector and water management in the state had improved vastly when Narendra Modi was chief minister. Even after he left for Delhi, the development momentum did not flag, particularly under current chief minister Vijay Rupani.
The MandalViramgam-Becharaji region is an instructive example of Gujarat’s growth model. The region, encompassing Ahmedabad and Mehsana districts, had been so backward that people would not take the roads here at night for fear of being robbed. Today, the entire region is thriving due to industrialisation and the irrigation canal network. So much so there is a school which offers Japanese language classes near Detroj, a backward taluka, thanks to the increasing presence of the Japanese.
Under Rupani, the state’s port sector, too, has been doing well. Large, medium and small ports dot the state’s 1,600 km coastline.
As principal secretary to th e CM, M.K. Das, says, “The government plays facilitator in Gujarat’s economic success with an accent on all-round development.” ■