Perception of UP as an investor destination is changing: Sidharth Nath Singh

With an aim to present Uttar Pradesh as an attractive investor destination and carry out "restructuring" of the largest number of MSMEs in any state in the country, Sidharth Nath Singh, MSME and export promotion minister in UP has his task cut out. In an interaction with ET, Singh talks about major policy changes in the state aiming at making imported raw materials duty free, giving subsidies to companies moving out of China and an ambitious "plug and play" MSME hub slated to come up along the Yamuna Expressway.
As Agra becomes the first city to benefit from an anti-China sentiment with a German footwear brand setting foot there, Singh admits perception of UP is changing as he also gears to welcome a Japanese delegation in November that is keenly looking at the sectors like food processing, electronics and logistics". Excerpts:

On policy changes in UP to attract investors
We have changed the logistics policy and given the sector an industry status and changed the floor of acquiring land for logistics from 50 acres to 25 acres. In electronics, we are moving away from SGST based incentives to capital investment based investments. We are coming up with a top-up subsidy over and above what the government of India is giving on refurbished plant being moved out of China. In the food processing sector, we are making it simpler for farm land to be converted to industrial land which is encouraging.

On bonded manufacturing
Bonded manufacturing is a new concept that government of India has approved. No state has done that. It is a step better than SEZs where when you were importing raw material, you had to pay custom duty which got nullified when you exported. But there was a book entry and hence working capital was getting blocked. In bonded manufacturing, when you import you do not need to pay a duty upfront. After manufacturing, what you export will not attract any levy but whatever is used for domestic market , tax will have to be paid only for that which will lead to huge savings in the amount of working capital. We are very working hard to introduce it in the state.


On pharma/medical devices park and dry port
The government of India has decided that they will have three pharmaceutical parks and four medical devices parks so we have identified land in Pilibhit and Lalitpur. For medical devices park we have taken Prayagraj and Unnao. It is a competitive process but we are making presentations towards it and hopefully should be considered. Similarly, we have moved an application that UP being a landlocked state, we should be given a dry port.

On creating UP as a MSME hub
We are bringing an MSME park along the Yamuna Expressway and a 300 acre land has been earmarked. We have roped industry associations like Laghu Bharti Udyog and CII and Indian Industries Association. The idea is to make the park as a plug and play- the shed is there, electricity, road and sewage is there and you can come and set shop. This will complement changes in the MSME Act that is now allowing one to apply on the portal and start work immediately while giving time up to 3 years to take the necessary NOCs. Similarly we are bringing a leather park in Kanpur and a textile hub in Gautam Buddh Nagar. The government of India is promoting it and we have submitted a draft and are now preparing the DPR.


On UP capitalising the anti-China sentiment
I have spoken to at least over 400 US firms by now over 100 EU companies and 6-7 high commissioners and ambassadors in India of various countries including Japan, Denmark. Japan has confirmed that it will send its delegation of about 25 people in November and they will focus on food processing, electronics and logistics and warehousing. It takes time for things to materialise especially during a pandemic but we are working very hard. Things are looking positive and UP is in the race. The perception is changing and that is key before bringing in industry.