Bhopal: It is now nine months since Global Investors’ Summit (GIS) was organised with great aplomb in the state. But since then, industrialists have shown little interest in investing in the state.
After demonetisation, industrial investment has hit the GST roadblock. From July 1, the concessions in VAT and Central Sales Tax, offered by the state government under its industrial promotion policy stand withdrawn, forcing the industrialists to defer their plans of investing in MP.
As many 2,630 investment proposals worth Rs 5.62 lakh crore were received by the government in the summit organised in October last year. But to date, most groups and individuals which had made the proposals have not initiated any discussions with the government for implementing them. A few who did take some interest have backed out after GST coming into force. According to an officer of the industries department, not a single new investment proposal has been received by the government in past five months – so much so that the Monday meetings of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan with industrialists have ceased. The department is sending emails after emails to the industrialists, who had promised to invest in the state, but there is no response.
A few who did take some interest have backed out after GST coming into force. According to an officer of the industries department, not a single new investment proposal has been received by the government in past five months – so much so that the Monday meetings of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan with industrialists have ceased. The department is sending emails after emails to the industrialists, who had promised to invest in the state, but there is no response.
Uncertainty over tax breaks post-GST
After the implementation of GST, tax rates have increased due to withdrawal of concessions. This has put the industrialists operating their units in the state in distress. The industries department has sent a proposal to provide tax breaks to industries in the GST environment. However, no other state has, so far, proposed any concessions in GST to promote investment. As such, the state government too is adopting the wait-and-watch policy. According to Mohammed Suleiman, principal secretary, Industries, the state government is very serious about promoting industries. He said that the government is mulling how to provide concessions to the industries after the implementation of the GST.
