With foreign remittances to Kerala crossing the ₹1 lakh crore mark, the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry has suggested channelising these NRI funds for productive activities like developing infrastructure.
According to the trade body, many of the infrastructure projects in Kerala are in limbo in the absence of funds and the government should incentivise NRIs to invest more into the State by floating bonds with attractive interest rates.
“While we support the government for all their initiatives to attract investments, it is time to focus on efforts that will generate economic activities within the State,” C S Kartha, Chamber President, said.
The chamber also expressed serious concern over the recent report on 'Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms, 2015' where Kerala has been ranked only 18th in the list. The State is still striving hard to get into the first 10 business-friendly states in the country, it noted.
Kerala, according the trade body, has been identified as one of the three debt stressed states with a per capita debt of 60 per cent which is above the national average.
The worrisome aspect is that most of these borrowings are used up for consumption and not for creation of public assets. This needs to be changed as lowering this level will attract more investments to public infrastructure projects, it said.
The chamber was of the view that ‘Right to Services Act’ of the State Government would accelerate the ease of doing business. The single window clearance and consent management system are all fine but the coordination among the government departments will be the key driver to attract businessmen into the State, it said.
“We have the best human resource talent and the policy makers need to capitalise this situation”, Kartha added.