Ratan Tata lauds Maharashtra Govt's development efforts

Mumbai, June 27 (UNI) Industrialist Ratan Tata has lauded the Maharashtra government for ensuring an all-round development of the state rather than just being Mumbai-specific.

Mr Tata, who specially flew to New York yesterday to participate in the Round Table conference with potential investors from the United States, told the gathering that the state had always given preference to all-round development and reforms in the field of ports, roads, energy, housing and other sectors by remaining within the democratic process.

Maharashtra is a state that responds positively, Mr Tata said.

The session began with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh introducing Mr Tata to an eagerly awaiting audience of 40 delegates. It comprised the CEOs of leading investment banks as well as industrialists.

Mr Deshmukh informed the gathering that he was grateful that Mr Tata had agreed to fly in specifically to participate in the first of its kind investor forum by any state in the US. It speaks volumes of the partnership that the State enjoys with the investors.

He said Mr Tata is the proud recipient of the Maharashtra Bhushan Award, which has a special place in his heart.

Mr Tata lauded Maharashtra as the number one state in India, saying that his Group has most of its operations in the state. He expressed satisfaction over the fact that under the leadership of Mr Deshmukh the state has been taking pro-active measures to resurrect it and retain its tradition of being the first one to launch innovative measures.

However, Mr Tata sounded a note of caution, saying that the government must put in extra efforts to compensate for the inaction over the last few years of the successive administration in addressing the issues of stretched infrastructure and lack of incentives.

He also called for a balanced growth across the state.

Mr Tata felt that it is necessary to take steps to ensure that all the persons across the state whether in urban or in rural areas need to reap the benefits of development. This can be done by ensuring that adequate opportunities are created in agro processing, service sectors including logistics, retail and areas other than IT.

He said it is also necessary to ensure that the growth does not get slowed down due to lack of adequate skilled labour. The participants also expressed the need to address the issues of regional imbalance, inadequacy of infrastructure and the availability of skilled workforce.

Mr Deshmukh assured that his government had already initiated short term as well as long term measures to tackle the issues concerning the investment.

He said it is the policy of the government to ensure that there is an all-inclusive growth and the common man does not feel left out. The government believes in development with 'human face'.

Although this may sometimes slow down the pace of development, the government is committed to ensure that the infrastructure keeps pace with the development. The measures initiated on this front necessitate tremendous investment and it is in this context that the state has come to enlighten the investors of the opportunities that exist for investment in Maharashtra.

Principal Secretary (Industries) Mr Jairath informed the gathering that the industrial, investment and infrastructure policy of the state government has evolved taking into account the various concerns highlighted during the discussion. It envisages a focussed approach for infrastructure development, special policies to promote agro-based industries, retail and entertainment.

He highlighted the initiatives taken by the state to address the human resoruce issues such as setting up of labour market information cell as well as state's partnership with industry to provide customised solutions to the industry's HR requirement by making available the infrastructure.

Mr Jairath said the government is responsive to the requirements of the investors and hence has provided the annual review of the policy.

The conference concluded with the appeal by the Chief Minister to all the investors to join hands with government in realising its dream of developing Maharashtra as Asia's most competitive manufacturing and services hub, with the Mumbai ranking amongst the world's top 5 financial centres.

UNI