Kochi: The controversy over Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s praise of Kerala’s communist government for creating a business-friendly atmosphere has helped start a discussion on the state’s investment climate, Kerala Industries Minister P. Rajeev told ThePrint.
In an interview with ThePrint on the sidelines of the Invest Kerala Global Summit, Rajeev said all the data supporting Tharoor was in the public domain for anyone to see and verify.
In an article written in The New Indian Express, Tharoor praised the state’s reforms in ease of doing business, inviting criticism from his own party’s members in Kerala. Questions are circulating over the legitimacy of the state’s ranking in ease of doing business and the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government’s claims regarding the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) opened under its governance.
Despite the controversy, the Opposition Congress has extended its support to the summit, with leader V.D. Satheesan saying that the Congress will work with the state government for Kerala’s growth.
Rajeev said that the two-day event saw Expressions of Interest (EoIs) worth Rs 1,52,905 crore. The EoIs include an investment of Rs 30,000 crore from the Adani Group, Rs 3,000 crore from the Lulu Group, and Rs 3,000 crore from the Malabar Group, among others.
The summit saw the participation of over 5,000 delegates and 30 sessions on different sectors. Before the summit, the state government had organised 48 preparatory sector-specific conclaves.
“After each meeting, we could set targets from specific sectors and nations. This summit was a continuation of that, intending to showcase the investment potential of Kerala,” Rajeev said.
The minister added that the state’s new industrial policy was instrumental in identifying the key 22 sectors the state is focusing on.
The industrial policy unveiled in the second term of the Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2023 brought several reforms, easing the process of starting a business to incentivising startups.
Under it, the state allowed No Red-category industries to operate for three years without certain prior approvals. The Red-Category industries have a pollution index score of 60 or above, as categorised by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The state also marked FY2022-2023 as the ‘Year of Entrepreneurship’, aiming to set up one lakh new enterprises.
“The policy was to recognise our objective realities. We decided that we don’t want polluting industries and focus on knowledge industries. That is why we have identified 22 sectors,” Rajeev told ThePrint.
The sectors include aerospace and defence, biotechnology and life science, ayurveda, engineering research and development, maritime, and medical equipment.
Rajeev said the state will collaborate with Germany on medical device manufacturing, and Taiwan will be a key player in the semiconductor industry in Kerala.
Changing the perception of investing in the state
One of the key aims of the two-day summit was to showcase the state as investor-friendly, shedding its image of a trade union militancy, with the state government and the Opposition reiterating that the state did not have a problem of trade union militancy or labour strikes.
Rajeev said the trade unions and Opposition are with the state in its mission to make Kerala an investment hub. However, he said the state will not dilute labour rights to attract investments.
“We are not diluting workers’ rights. And we are not amending our labour laws,” he told ThePrint.
Rajeev said the state’s attempts to attract investment are not deviating from its left ideologies.
“We are working in a capital system. So we have to work with the existing legal system,” he said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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