India difficult place to do business: Top Govt official

Kolkata, July 25: Terming India a complicated and difficult place to do business in, a top central government official on Saturday called for dismantling archaic laws and procedural bottlenecks.

Speaking on 'Make in India' campaign at an event here, Amitabh Kant, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), also said his department would relase a report in August "naming and shaming" state governments that do not ease up the process of doing business.

"We have made India a very complicated and a difficult place to do business. Over the years we have build up processes, rules, regulations, procedures, laws and our whole mindset has been about control," he said.

"We need break rules, procedures, acts, and create a new mindset to allow people to do business. It is imperative that India makes itself one of the easiest and simplest places to do business. This would require a lot of dismantling of the control that we have acquired over the past 60 years," he said.

Kant said it was essential for India to be part of the global value chain and participate in various trading blocs across the world to strengthen its manufacturing base.

He also lamented the country's dismal patents record despite India becoming the hub of global research and development.

"If multinational companies can set up their R&D centres here, why can't Indian companies. India's patent record is extremely dismal and poor and it is important that Indians companies and institutions and government must focus on R&D and stress on getting patents," he said.

Kant said all the state governments have been provided with 98 points on which action needs to be taken by them towards ease of doing business and the report, to be released in August, will rank them as the best and worst in these terms.

"We are in the process of evaluating them and by end of August we will release the report appreciating the best performing states and naming and shaming those who have done badly," he said.

Kant also said the report will be an annual affair.

About land for industry, he urged the states to come up with "innovative ways" to solve issues concerning acquisition.

"The states need to find a solution and come out with innovative ways to tackle the issue. There are various options like leasing or annuity-based agreements with the land owners. Providing developed land could also be an option," said Kant, adding that government must play a role in building consensus.

IANS