BENGALURU: Industries Minister R V Deshpande has expressed interest in associating with the UK to improve ease of doing business in Karnataka.
Deshpande, along with British Deputy High Commissioner Ian Felton, on Wednesday released the ‘Ease of Doing Business in Karnataka’ report prepared by British Deputy High Commission, Bengaluru.
Later speaking at a workshop titled ‘UK-India Innovation and Technology Commercialisation’ Deshpande said, “Over the last few years, Government of Karnataka has been proactively working on assessing regulations that pose challenges to investors, which in turn has led to several reform measures.”
He said Karnataka has the best ecosystem to achieve all this and more.
“Closer UK-Karnataka ties in innovation and technology collaboration will propel both regions to greater heights,” he added.
Felton said as a result of their discussions they have produced the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in Karnataka report with a foreword by Deshpande. The report “doesn’t shirk around the areas still being worked on to generate more business”, he said.
UK Offer
The UK’s ‘one-in, two-out’ initiative on regulation and the ‘red tape challenge’ have helped it move up to 8th place in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business rankings.
UK has also taken many initiatives to improve delivery of regulatory services, with the help of experienced professionals.
Deshpande said Industries Commissioner Gaurav Gupta had briefed him about the report’s findings and the government is working on some of the suggestions.
“In the report, you have also mentioned the possible collaboration between UK and Karnataka on the subject. I think this is a very good idea. I will request you to follow up on this collaboration with Additional Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha,” he said.