States In Motion

India’s states are now determining their own destiny and forging individual paths to progress.

- Kaushik Deka

On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a select gathering of Cabinet ministers, foreign diplomats, industry leaders and senior bureaucrats in Delhi, said the Union government was working towards doubling the size of the Indian economy to $5 trillion as soon as possible and placing India among the top 50 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking. To achieve this goal, the prime minister said, his government was strengthening the “cooperative competitive federalism” framework for which it was continuously in discussion with states to streamline regulatory approvals and expedite clearances.

Driven by this push from the top, Indian states are fast emerging as growth-driven units intent on outperforming each other in the race to reach the top in terms of economic development and social welfare. Chief ministers, cutting across party lines, are positioning themselves as CEOs of their states. They have the micro details of their state on their fingertips, they lead from the front and are ready to adopt innovative, even unconventional means to find solutions to problems.

From ease of indulging in corruption once, the emphasis today has shifted towards ease of doing business. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the performance of states in the World Bank and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) ease of doing business rankings reflects the remarkable progress made in improving the investment climate in the past four years. “The innovative partnership between the central and state governments and the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism in facilitating investments across the country is yielding notable results,” CII president Rakesh Bharti Mittal said recently.