NEW DELHI: The Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL), a state government agency, has said that there seem to be an “incongruency” in the results, as the state recorded a dismal performance in the Centre’s Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) rankings with its performance worsening as per the data.
In a statement, IPICOL has said that it will seek further details and clarification on the evaluation methodology from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
These are dated rankings for reforms implemented by various States in the year 2018. Over the past two years, significant number of reforms have been implemented by various State Government Departments in the State.
The conducive business environment in the State is also reflected in the investments received by the State during the past two years. During the period of April-September 2019, Odisha became the top investment destination in the country by attracting the highest amount of investment (18% of total investment in India). Even during COVID period, the State received more than 200 investment proposals. Thus, these rankings do not reflect the current business environment in the State and do not incorporate the recent reform initiatives implemented by the State.
IEMs implemented data (Based on Part B filed) reported by DPIIT for 2019 (reflects commencement of commercial production by industrial units), highest quantum of investment grounded was in Odisha as summarized in the table below:
| Sl. | State and BRAP Ranking | IEMs implemented (Rs. Crore)
|
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh (1) | 34,696
|
| 2 | Uttar Pradesh (2) | 6,162
|
| 3 | Telangana (3) | 7,364
|
| 4 | Madhya Pradesh (4) | 11,335
|
| 5 | Jharkhand (5) | 44,199
|
| 6 | Odisha (29) | 47,434
|
For 2020, data is reported upto Mar 2020 by DPIIT. Again, Odisha is at the top amongst all States.
Furthermore, the single window clearance system of the State i.e GO SWIFT received the National e-Governance Silver Award for the year 2020 in the Category of ‘Government Process Re-engineering for Digital Transformation’ earlier this year. During the past 2 years, GO SWIFT has significantly reduced the burden on both large industries and MSMEs to set up and operate in the State.
The State had implemented 180 out of 187 reform action points recommended by DPIIT. The evidence of implementation was submitted by the State and the evidence for all 180 reforms was also approved by DPIIT. It is understood that the survey agency appointed by DPIIT could not complete the feedback survey with the industries and MSMEs in the State and therefore the reforms implemented by the State could not be accounted for.
There seems to be incongruency in the results as States/UTs which have implemented no/much lower number of reforms have been ranked higher than States which have implemented significant reforms. Further details and clarifications on the evaluation methodology will be sought from DPIIT, Government of India on the results announced.
The concerned Departments are implementing the next set of State level and District level reforms action plan and results of the same shall reflect the true business environment in the State.
Even for the year 2018-19, Odisha had completed 180 of the total 187 reform points, which were accepted by DPIIT. Odisha is taking up the matter with DPIIT in the light of the fact that some states and UTs which have implemented lesser number of reforms (one of them zero) are placed higher in ranking than Odisha.
