LUCKNOW: The Yogi Government in Uttar Pradesh is burning midnight oil these days for achieving a trilliondollar economy target by 2027. The target for the state was suggested by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he inaugurated the UP Investors’ Summit in Lucknow on February 21, 2018. The PM had asked at that time if Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh could compete with each other to become a trillion-dollar economy and could the UP Government compete with other states; because the more the competition, more would be the investment.
The next five years are very challenging for the Yogi Government and it is working towards making the state, which currently contributes 8 per cent to the national GDP, the second-largest economy in India with a special focus on infrastructure.
A high-level meeting was held in the state capital recently, where Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Director (India), International Monetary Fund (IMF), gave key suggestions for hitting the set target.
During the discussion, Subramanian said a boost could be given to the Uttar Pradesh economy by focusing on information technology, tourism, MSME (micro small and medium enterprises), agriculture, education and food processing sectors. The state Government, he said, should aim at making Uttar Pradesh a data-storage and processing hub. Priority should be given to the data and digital start-up sector in the new industrial policy of Uttar Pradesh.
It was also suggested by some senior officials present at the meeting that India is going to be main global and tech market, so there was a need for easy templates for start-ups for doing business in the state. Any enterprise should be recognised as a start-up and a tensionfree business environment should be provided. The state Government’s move to provide financial support on interest would boost innovation and technology, it was suggested.
State Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said that Uttar Pradesh would use its potential in bringing about multi-dimensional development of India. Stating that Uttar Pradesh aimed to make the state a trillion-dollar economy, he said 10 sectors have been identified to bring about all-round development. Short-term and long-term action plans have been worked out for every sector and their implementation is being consistently monitored, he said.
The Chief Secretary also said that faster development of infrastructure facilities would attract larger investment and create employment opportunities. There had been an improvement in connectivity in the state, he said.
