‘My job is to target as many people as I can’

It may sound clichéd but Yashodhara Raje Scindia is clearly someone on the move. And this was more than apparent at Hannover Messe in Germany last week where the Commerce and Industries Minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP) was busy visiting stalls and catching up with heads of industry from India and across the world.

Scindia’s message was loud and clear — invest in MP which is the country’s new growth engine. This strategy is also in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to empower states and urge them to attract investments on their own.

Scindia believes that MP is in a good space right now from the viewpoint of being an attractive option for industry. The building blocks were put in place by its Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who identified women empowerment as the first step in the turnaround exercise nearly a decade ago. This was remarkable for a region which is typically patriarchal and where men take all the decisions.

Scindia says the power crisis was also a big challenge and top bureaucrats were roped in to help out. “Women empowerment and the two verticals of water and power were given priority almost simultaneously,” she told BusinessLine in the MP pavilion at Hannover Messe.

There were other issues to be tackled including roads and pollution, which were deterrents, and once again, Chouhan stepped into the picture to help out. The next challenge was branding and the Global Investors’ Summit was quickly organised last October, barely 10 months after Scindia had taken charge.

Despite this “baptism by fire”, the event turned out to be a roaring success. “I am a stickler for details and we made sure that every single top group would participate,” she says about this summit where the State made it known that it was ready to woo investors.

Defence manufacturing has been identified as a key business activity and Scindia was asked by the CM to put a policy in time for the October summit. The idea was to make known that MP was ready with land, once companies reached saturation points in other locations.

“I feel that the mindset is changing gradually and people have heard about what is happening in MP in terms of economic indicators and political stability,” says Scindia. She made it a point to attend Automechanika in Delhi as well as Aero India, the air show in Bengaluru, and network with those who mattered.

“My job is to target as many people as I can. I send an email as soon as I meet them and if I do not hear from them for four months, I send them another email,” she says.

Scindia recalls inviting German ancillary supplier, Bosch, to invest in MP though they have no expansion plans for the moment in India. Meanwhile, the company was coping with lockout issues at its plants in Bengaluru followed by Jaipur.

“I kept sending emails and told them they would not find this happening in MP which has a relatively peaceful labour force. If you are a big businessman and I tell you that there has been no single shutdown in my state for five years, how can you not look at me?” she asks.

From Scindia’s point of view, it is eventually about branding and marketing MP, especially when it has something solid to offer. She adds that she spoke to someone making auto parts for a top luxury car brand and offered MP as the location for the plant. The company has now decided to go ahead with this proposal. “There is a saturation point in other states and if we do a good job, there is no reason why a company should not come to us,” reasons Scindia.

Pithampur is already emerging as an auto hub with high profile residents including Volvo Eicher, MAN Trucks, Mahindra 2-Wheelers, Mahle, AVTEC, and a host of others. The ambitious NATRiP (National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project) testing track outside Pithampur is also on course to be ready by 2016.

Scindia is keen on getting this in place before the next Global Investors’ Summit. “I want to tell people that things can be in limbo for a long while but if you have the determination, you can put it back on track,” she says.

Scindia is also looking at resuscitating areas in Dhar district, Madanpur and Gwalior, to make them more vibrant. “I will focus on branding and marketing as well as resurgence of existing industries,” she says. The top priority for the moment is renewable and solar energy where the State has targeted 10,000 MW to be in place by 2017.

In addition, a lot of attention is being paid to skill development, especially when it means meeting the needs of big brands such as John Deere, Volvo Eicher, and Coca Cola. Plans are also underway to have a dedicated freight line to ports nearby.

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