Visakhapatnam, Feb 25 (IANS) US India Business Council (USIBC) Executive Vice President Myron Brilliant on Sunday advised Andhra Pradesh to open an office in the US to promote business and trade.
Addressing CII Partnership Summit here, he said Andhra Pradesh should take the initiative as no Indian state has an office in the US while 12 states of the US have their offices in India.
Brilliant, who is also head of international affairs at USIBC, was all praise for the state for creating an investor-friendly environment and reaching the top position among Indian states in terms of ease of doing business.
At the session 'The reforms calculus: promoting ease of doing business' he said that India, which projected to grow from a $2.5 trillion economy to a $10 trillion economy in 15 years cannot be ignored.
He, however, suggested that the country should invest in inclusive growth to regain the trust deficit. "The government should invest in people and should also create an ecosystem to allow technology to flourish," he said.
While describing demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax as good instruments, he also underlined the need for flexibility in labour workforce. He said since new technology is resulting in disruption of the existing workforce, the government should evolve solutions to address the concerns.
Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, Secretary General, International Investor Council, United Arab Emirates said that his country is keen to learn from Andhra Pradesh which has transformed into one of fastest-growing states.
He said the UAE was taking steps to transform its oil-based economy into a knowledge-based economy. The official said he shared the vision of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that technology and innovation is the way forward.
Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said Andhra Pradesh was not considered a top performing state but within three years, it emerged the most attractive state in ease of doing business, overtaking the western states of India.
He said the rapid strides made by Andhra has made his job easier as it emerged as a model for others. "From ease of doing business, we should now move to please of doing business. We should enjoy doing the business," he said.
Prabhu said Andhra Pradesh not only made its investing processes totally transparent but also offered customised solutions to individual businesses.
Chandrababu Naidu said if Andhra Pradesh were a country, it would have ranked 88th in the World Bank's ease of doing business index against India's rank of 100.
He said that his goal is to take his state to "64th rank in the first phase and reach 40th rank in the second phase, with the ultimate goal of being among the top 5 investment destinations by 2050 globally".
"I am benchmarking my goals with the top countries of the world in the ease of doing business rankings," he said pointing out that already 30 per cent of business proposals are given approvals on the spot and the rest of the 70 are only taking a maximum of 21 days.
