Lucknow, Feb 6 (KNN) Hard to believe, but the development charges for setting up industries in Uttar Pradesh is 22 times than that of Prime Minister’s Gujarat.

Research by Federation of Indian Micro & Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME), the leading federation of Indian MSMEs,  has brought out that for a half an acre (2000  m2) industrial plot, an MSME in Kanpur has to shell out Rs 18.18 lakh as license fees and development charges!!

The table below shows the difference in the development and other charges between the two states which increase with the size of the plot:

His counterpart in Gujarat pays only Rs 81,200 for the same plot as development and charges.

There is a glaring difference in the charges between the two states as an entrepreneur in Gujarat pays only Rs 12 per square metre as development charges on covered area, the Kanpur entrepreneur pays Rs 1611 which is whopping 13 times more than in UP.

And all the amount has to be paid before even a brick of the premises is laid.

With such discriminative rates, no wonder that the industrial activities are at stand still in the state.

Without addressing the real issues, the political parties are alluring youth with the false promises for Government employment.

Every year more than a crore youth will be asking for employment at the all India level.

For UP, the proportionate number may be more than 10 lakhs. How the parties are going to address this burning issue is a big questions mark.

It has been proved that only small businesses have the highest employment generating potential and given the ground reality of ‘ease of doing business’ environment in the state, how are the MSMEs expected to create employment.

However, if the political will is to extract maximum fees and rates from the entrepreneurs, the industries will be forced to shift to other states.

And this is what is exactly happening in the poll-bound state. While the Government figures show a rosy picture, the fact on the ground is dismal.

Sandwiched between the high ‘fees’ and ‘rates’, both official and underhand, the MSMEs of UP are on ventilators.

The important clusters of Moradabad, Agra, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and hundred such are suffering from the Government apathy.

If this situation continues like this, UP will undoubtedly lose both Industry and Employment in near future, commented Dinesh Singhal, a leading entrepreneur from Meerut.

If the future Government wishes to put UP in a growth path, they have to address the crucial costs of doing business, including the ‘development charges’, he quipped. (KNN/ DB)