MANISH GUPTA
Ranchi, Oct 31: States fighting for big-ticket projects may be common in other parts of India with recent show of ‘competitive federalism’ between Gujarat and Maharashtra, the eastern India and particularly Jharkhand seems to be on a different journey.
“The eastern region is on a completely different growth path including Bihar and West Bengal. Jharkhand has remained a large exporter of raw materials and workers – both educated and illiterate,” noted economist Ramesh Sharan told lagatar24.com.
The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Jharkhand in financial year 2021-22 was Rs 48 crore ($6 million) as against West Bengal’s Rs 3,195 crore, Tamil Nadu’s Rs 22,396 crore, Maharashtra’s Rs 1,14,964 crore and Karnataka’s Rs 1,63,795 crore.
The FDI figures from Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of Ministry of Commerce and Industry show that more than 80 per cent of the FDI is taken away by four states namely – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi.
“The biggest problems facing Jharkhand are land acquisition, lack of infrastructure, and law and order. The anti-industry, anti-foreign investment culture of Bengal also reflects in Jharkhand. What the state needs is a strong political will power,” Sharan said.
Sharan, who is the director of the eastern centre of the Institute of Human Development, said that the state should focus on land acquisition and proper rehabilitation, availability of water, and strong governance that removes corruption and rent-seeking attitude.
“Barhi area can be developed as an industrial belt, food processing industry can be our focus sector, and we need to get into processing of forest produce in a big way,” said the former Vice Chancellor of Vinoba Bhave University in Hazaribag.
Harishwar Dayal, Associate Professor and Head of Economics Department, St Xavier’s College, Ranchi, said that the state needs to identify the potential areas where it can focus its energy and time to get the maximum of the foreign investment and related benefits.
“If we see the sectors that attract the maximum FDI in India, these are the services sector and computer software and hardware. These two sectors alone get 31 per cent of the total FDI in India. Jharkhand can concentrate on developing clusters for computer software and hardware, so that we too get a share in that FDI,” Dayal said.
Besides, as Jharkhand is rich in minerals and metallurgical industries get 3 per cent of the total FDI, the state can focus on promoting vertical integration among its industries and shift to exporting value-added products instead of mere raw materials, he added.
