MP wants to be India's economic heart, Shivraj Singh calls for investment

With a view to make Madhya Pradesh heart of economic activity in India, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has called on industry leaders to invest in the State and assured them of providing investor-friendly environment.

Chouhan met top corporate executives at an event in Madhya Pradesh on Friday night and told them the BJP Government was planning to develop the State as an industrial hub after achieving good progress on farm front.

"We have done a lot of progress on the agricultural front and achieved nearly 25 per cent growth in the sector last year. Now we want to develop the State as an industrial hub and make it the economic heart of India," he said.

He said the Government is preparing a road map for promoting industrial development in the State. "We have 18 lakh hectares of land which can be used for developing industrial parks or townships. We have many ideas and for this we are preparing a road map."

Chouhan, who took charge as Chief Minister in end-2005, said the State administration was also working towards providing single window clearance for projects.

"The biggest hurdle for industry is clearances. We are working on developing a system whereby all the State-level clearances would be provided on one platform. We want to ensure single window clearance for all projects."

The Chief Minister said his Government will also decide a timeline for granting clearances.

Assuring an investor-friendly environment, he said "we have the necessary infrastructure in place. We are power surplus, our law and order situation is good and we have a good manpower. We want to set up more power projects. At the same time, we are also setting up training institutes under public-private partnership mode to develop skilled manpower."

He further said besides power, infrastructure, health care and education, the Government is also looking at attracting defence sector-related units.

"We welcome the decision of Narendra Modi Government to allow 49 per cent FDI in the defence sector. We want the private sector to come and set up projects here to manufacture (defence) products that we currently import."