THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as Kerala bagged a lowly 28th position in the Ease of Doing Business 2019 ranking, Industries Minister E P Jayarajan exuded confidence that the state will improve its position in the next ranking. A slew of initiatives are already under way in this regard, he said. Andhra Pradesh retained the top position in the ‘State Business Reform Action Plan 2019’ (BARP) ranking brought out by the Union government on Saturday that shows how states performed in enhancing the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ last year. While Uttar Pradesh came second from 12th in 2018, Telangana finished third position. Kerala was ranked 21st in 2018.
Jayarajan said the government has been coming out with various measures to attract new entrepreneurs to the state to ensure industrial growth, he said. New MSME units are all set to begin functioning, he told TNIE. New projects in khadi, handloom and industrial sector will also be promoted, he said. “We have decided to take over 100 acres of land in each district for new industrial initiatives. This would be done by easing existing legislations so as to give relief to entrepreneurs,” he said. He hoped that the state will be able to improve its position next time. “Due to the Covid-19 situation, we couldn’t take things forward as expected. But we can definitely improve,” he said.
Kerala is also thinking about approaching the Union government seeking a review of calculations based on which the rankings are issued. “In the normal course, our ranking should have improved. It seems there are some issues with the parameters based on which calculations for the rankings are made. Around six states have already raised concern about the current ranking system norms. Once we get the full data about the latest ranking, we will consider approaching the Centre,” Jayarajan said.