Sitharaman urges states to help India become fastest growing economy

New Delhi [India], November 15 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday urged states to help India become the fastest growing economy in coming years, through attractiveness as an investment destination, expediting ease of doing business and undertaking power reforms.
She said in several cases land is one of the major bottlenecks for projects to take off and urged states to smoothen land acquisition procedures and create land banks to be tapped at the time of investment.
The Minister interacted with Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers of states and Lt Governors of UTs via virtual conference here today to enhance the investment climate in the country in the wake of strong recovery and the opportunities accorded by a shift in geo-political realities post COVID-19 pandemic.
In her opening remarks, Finance Minister emphasized that the economy has been growing significantly post the second wave of pandemic and indicators such as imports, exports, PMI manufacturing, digital payments have already reached pre-pandemic levels.
Sitharaman said that the recently launched National Monetization Pipeline includes only Central government assets and state assets have been out of its purview as of now.
She suggested that there is a significant potentially monetizable asset base in states which could be leveraged to enhance the capital available for new infrastructure creation and other social sector pressing priorities.
The Finance Minister also urged the states to strengthen their urban local bodies (ULBs).