Andhra Pradesh on Saturday stood at the No. 1 position in the country in implementing the state business reforms action plan (State BRAP), which indicates ease of doing business for Atmanirbhar Bharat in the state.
It is definitely a pleasant news for the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, which has been facing criticism of neglecting industrial development in the state in the last one year.
The ranks were announced by the Department of Industrial Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under Union ministry of Commerce and Industry through a video conference chaired by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the presence of Union minister of commerce Piyush Goyal and all state industries ministers.
Interestingly, Telangana, which has been attracting huge investments in the state even during the Covid-19 times, stood in the third position, while Uttar Pradesh bagged the second rank in the overall ranking of the state business process reforms undertaken during 2019.
According to state industries minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy, these rankings represent the ease of doing business in the state with increased transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the government regulatory functions vis-a-vis the business enterprises.
He said these rankings which were done through a survey of the investor community during January and February 2020 truly stand testimony to the investor friendly commitment of the state and a transparent governance already in place.
“The Business Reform Action Plan 2019 released by the Centre contains a list of 80 reforms (187 reform action points) to be implemented by 19 State departments. Andhra Pradesh has achieved 100% compliance to the 187 reform action points by DPIIT-World Bank as a part of BRAP 2019,” the minister pointed out.
Gautam Reddy said the state government had initiated steps for starting an enterprise with low cost and quick single desk approvals.
Andhra Pradesh was the first state to have come up with the “ReSTART” package in post-Covid scenario for business continuity of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
He said the Jagan government had introduced a new industrial policy recently that provided for land allotment to new industries in a time bound manner through the Single Desk Portal, comprehensive e-filing system for online filing of commercial cases at special commercial court at Visakhapatnam etc.
Reddy congratulated the efforts of Karikal Valaven, Special Chief Secretary, Industries, Subramanyam Javvadi, Commissioner of Industries and all officials of the industries department for putting in their best efforts to make AP, the top-ranking state in BRAP, by bringing the state government closer to the investor community.
