Modi Mantra for growth at investors' meet: Healthy Centre-state cooperation

Indore: A week ahead of Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a clear message that only a healthy Centre-state relation could catapult a state into the category of a developed one. “The strength lies in the states, and the Centre should harness it. It’s the responsibility of the latter to encourage the states by understanding their strengths. It’s Team India comprising the PM and the state CMs that can achieve new heights in growth. I know how difficult it is to function and thrive without Centre’s cooperation,” he said, inaugurating the fourth Madhya Pradesh Global Investors’ Summit in Indore.[caption id=“attachment_1750041” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanges greetings with industrialists on his arrival at the Global Investors Summit 2014 in Indore on Thursday. PTI[/caption] Modi said the Centre and the states were not competitors in development, but they complimentary to one another. Giving example of a basic algebraic equation :[(a+b) square], he said the result shows [(a)square + (b)square + 2ab]. “This 2ab represents the power of combination of Centre and a state, and this provides energy to the relation and ultimately brings growth. It’s a win-win situation,” he asserted. “Investment should be above party politics and it should be made irrespective of any party or government,” he said. Besides better coordination between the Centre and the states, he emphasised on job creation, skill development and integration of manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors as critical for economic growth. Reiterating his ‘Make in India’ slogan, Modi said states should emphasise both on short-term and long-term projects. The country’s academic world should be made a partner in development process and skill development should be the mission to bridge the supply-demand gap. “No country can thrive in isolation as time has changed. One needs to have global perspective at work. The states should prepare a talent pool and go for global networking to reap benefits. Modi said India has been considered by many companies in the West as place to reap profits. “Keeping an eye on the 125 crore population, the companies pushed their products in India and earned profits. Now, we want that they should invest in India so that we benefit. It should be an win-win situation for both”. Lauding Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s achievement as chief minister, he said: “A decade back MP’s growth rate was less than two per cent, but in 10 years, the state has achieved a nine per cent growth. Chauhan has been successful in removing the ‘Bimaru state’ tag that Madhya Pradesh used to have. Despite being a landlocked state, MP has been able to convert an agricultural state to a manufacturing one, while simultaneously land under irrigation has gone up four fold.” Highlighting the inherent strengths of MP, Modi said the state contributes 40 percent of the total organic farming in India. “Organic farm products are of immense demand in the global market due to holistic health considerations, and MP can leverage this to its advantage,” he added. “MP will be the driving force in India’s economic growth,” Modi signed off. During 2005-2014, Madhya Pradesh registered a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent at current prices in gross state domestic product (GSDP), 16 per cent in the service sector, 20 percent in agriculture and 15 per cent in the industrial sector. According to the state data, MP at constant prices base 2004-05, has achieved 25 percent growth in agriculture sector in 2013-14. “When we started our investment journey, ‘Destination MP in 2007’, people looked at us with a lot of suspicion. Getting investors to the state was a major hurdle due to its Bimaru tag. But within a short span we’ve been successful in getting country’s major investors to get involved with the state. And soon MP will also become the next IT destination of the country, with TCS opening a major facility here,” said Chouhan. “We’ve improved upon our financial health by containing fiscal deficit at three per cent and have created a land bank of 26,000 hectare land, with round-the-clock uninterrupted power supply and water to industry. Digitisation would create more jobs in the state,” he added. Showcasing MP’s economic achievements, the Chief Secretary of MP, Anthony de Sa, said in actual terms the state has got investments worth $30bn (Rs 1.82 lakh crore) between 2012-2014. “While India’s economic growth in 2013-14 is 4.7 percent, we achieved 11.1 percent.” Leveraging the strong presence of Modi, Chouhan has been successful in wooing the who’s who of Indian industry. Those present at the event included Mukesh Ambani, Cyrus Modi, Adi Godrej, AM Naik and YC Deveshwar.