With the aim to bring in investments from different parts of the world, the Rajasthan government announced the ‘Rising Rajasthan Investment Summit’ in its first year of government formation and has been going across nations to invite investors to the state.

Ensuring that things don’t die down and get implemented on the ground, the Rajasthan government is inviting investors to this landlocked state, which is well-connected by rail, road and air.

IANS spoke exclusively to Rajasthan Industries Minister, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to learn how the government plans to turn things around via this summit when the state ranks second in unemployment on the CMIE’s index and is battling with problems like power crisis, water crisis and so on.

Some excerpts from the interview:

Q: You have announced ‘Rising Rajasthan’ in the first year after coming to power when the state government is facing teething challenges. How do you plan to take it forward?

A: The Rajasthan government seriously wants a turnaround in the state and hence we have decided to organise ‘Rising Rajasthan’ in our first year. The idea is to ensure that we deliver on all the promises we made to the public during the elections. Also, we need time to settle things. Once we organise this event in our first year, we can continue pitching Rajasthan as an ideal state for investment in coming years too.

Further, we decided to hold the investment summit in our first year while learning from mistakes made by the previous government. They announced the summit in their last year. MoUs were signed and investors were brought in but things did not materialise. So it was imperative for us to do it in our first year.

Q: After announcing the summit, how do you plan to take it forward?

A: We have set our vision and mission to take Rajasthan global. We see that the state is in competition with many Asian countries. This is because it is as big as many Asian countries and we are aiming to bring in businesses here which were going to Bangladesh or Vietnam. We are a much better state for investments. We are going global in this investment summit.

Earlier during the Congress’ rule, one or two nations were touched by the previous governments, however touring nine nations and making a global pitch was never done before. Further, we are holding pre-summit events to ensure serious work happens before the Rising Rajasthan summit.

Also, we are holding the Pravasi Rajasthani Conclave on December 10 to cash in on their strength as they have built big businesses outside Rajasthan.

Q: You, too, toured different countries like Switzerland, UAE and Qatar? What has been the response?

A: The response is superb. The UAE and Qatar with sovereign funds, Switzerland with its rail, and Japan with its automobile and technology companies, have expressed interest in Rising Rajasthan. Also a senior person from the UAE will be coming soon and we might be able to resolve the ongoing power crisis soon. This is the kind of discussion we are undergoing.

Q: Rajasthan stands second in unemployment on the CMIE index. Do you think this summit will be able to bring unemployment down like Haryana?

A: Yes, definitely, there will be employment generation via this summit. We are working and creating an economically-viable Rajasthan. We are inviting companies from different sectors like hospitality, engineering, manufacturing, IT, renewable energy and so on, which will be creating multiple employment opportunities. In fact, both direct and indirect jobs will be produced which will create new opportunities in supply chain, hospitality and tourism and other segments bringing in economic vibrancy. This is for the private segment. Also, we have already committed to giving four lakh jobs in the next four years in the government sector. So this position on the unemployment index is sure to come down. We will focus on education and skill as well. Each business wants trained youth, so we are simultaneously arranging skill training.

Q: How do you plan to ease business for investors?

A: We understand the needs of investors. Their first question is what next after we reach Rajasthan. Therefore, for ease of doing business with each country, we have earmarked an IAS officer. In fact, we have identified 25 IAS officers who will be responsible for 25 countries.

We took them on international tours along with us so there is immediate confidence among investors. We have also identified senior RAS officers who will be responsible for the state so that they have a single point of contact for their queries.

Q: Did you do any special planning before announcing this summit?

A: We have done a lot of homework to ensure the success of the summit. To improve governance and clearances in the state was our first task and hence we ensured 21 new policies were made, these include textile and apparel park policies, fintech park policies, logistics park policies and others.

Also seven old policies were modified and simplified. The core message was that there should be clarity in each of these policies. We are focussing on textile, tourism, agro products, logistics, infrastructure, renewable energy, chemicals, green hydrogen, IT and renewable energy and hence we chalked out different policies. Also, we have identified officers for single window clearance aiming at ease of doing business and lowering the cost of businesses.

Q: How will ‘Rising Rajasthan’ be different from the Investors Summit organised under the Congress’ rule?

A: The previous government did it in the last year of its tenure, so implementation failed on the ground. It simply earned money by auctioning land. That was not a very good idea. The cost of land went up, so it was not viable for entrepreneurs to set up business, and hence they held up businesses and waited for land prices to escalate and moved out of business. No environment was created for economic vibrancy and there was no employment generated. That penny was a dead penny. Looking at this scenario, we preferred doing our homework so that things take shape on the ground.

Q: We have seen neighbouring Haryana branding Gurugram as an IT hub and Bengaluru is also on top of the investors’ list. How do you plan to lure investors to Rajasthan which is known as a landlocked state?

A: Rajasthan is aptly located and is best for businesses. We have two expressways passing through Rajasthan which are Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Jamnagar-Amritsar Expressway. We have huge swathes of land available here. Also we have a strong rail, road and air network. Further, we offer energy which is green, we have huge human resources and there is ease of supply chain.

Further, we offer country-specific zones. A lot of countries have got excited on hearing of this. Our Japanese industrial corridor is a rare example in this context. So we offered it to them with an idea that they would be comfortable.

We have dry ports, all work related to customs is done here; further ports are just five to six hours’ drive. A well-defined market is around us which is North India. And look at prices. Our location next to Delhi makes us quite viable for greenfield projects and we are not saturated like Gurugram and Bengaluru. The land prices in Hyderabad, Gurugram and Bengaluru are high; the price of skilled manpower is high and the cost of living has gone up. Rajasthan, especially Jaipur is peaceful and beautiful, with the least labour problems and the quality of life is high. We are two hours’ drive from Delhi and international airports here and we will push for more airports. We are looking forward to Jaipur being an IT city.