LUCKNOW: Amid the changing dynamics of the economy due to COVID-19, Uttar Pradesh government has decided to establish a new Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency (IPFA) with the objective of imparting much-needed impetus to investment in the state and also job creation for returning migrant workers from across the country.
The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting presided over by UP CM Yogi Adityanath on late Tuesday evening. This new agency will be set up by strengthening ‘Udyog Bandhu’, the existing investment promotion agency working for facilitation of investment and industrial development of the state.
As per the official sources, the new body will focus on industry and investment promotion along with creating employment avenues, particularly, for lakhs of the migrant labourers who are returning to the state.
Elaborating on the decision, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure & Industrial Development, Alok Kumar said that the proposed agency would be created under the chairmanship of the CM. It would also comprise of Ministers of Industrial Development and MSME & Export Promotion as vice-chairpersons. The board of the new organisation would have senior officers of departments concerned along with sector experts of the industry, said Kumar.
The principal secretary added that recommendations and suggestions communicated to the state government by ‘Invest India’, a similar agency functioning under the Government of India, would be adopted while setting up the new agency and deciding its functionality.
Notably, the UP government has 21 investment policies related to different sectors to bring business to the state by improving the business and trade environment in the state.
However, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus-induced pandemic, the priorities of global industrial investors are changing. The state government is facing the challenge of creating jobs for at least 1.5 million workforce - both skilled and unskilled labourers - who are coming to UP from different states.