Anand Sharma denies his ministry issued report on Gujarat

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma denied that his department had commissioned the report cited by the BJP Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday to say Gujarat is the most business-friendly state in India. “My ministry has awarded certificate or issued any such report on Gujarat’s land acquisition model,” Mr. Sharma told reporters adding that the said report was brought out by a private sector consultancy firm. 

Stating that the report places Gujarat ahead of other states on two of 14 parameters considered the Minister said, “I want other states to know that they are also good and should not be mislead by Mr. Modi to believe they are not performing well”. “Mr. Modi should also apologise to voters for deliberately misleading them by saying my ministry has issued a report saying Gujarat has the best land acquisition policy and distorting the facts to justify allocation of  public land at throwaway prices to one businessmen.”

The minister for responding to comments Mr. Modi made on Tuesday followed by a BJP press statement on a report Best Practices to Improve the Business Environment Across States/UTs in India. Mr. Modi had in his address to a 3D rally, referring to this report said: "It is a report by your own government, and it states that in the whole country, only in Gujarat, will you find a development-friendly environment." The press statement the BJP had issued said that Mr. Modi had at the 3D rally “highlighted the findings of a report associated with the Commerce Ministry that lauds Gujarat for their land acquisition policy and asked the Congress leaders who keep abusing Gujarat to read the report before insulting the 6 crore people of Gujarat”.  

Mr. Modi’s comments came soon after the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion uploaded the said report on its website. “My department uploads a number of reports on its website but that does not mean they are all commissioned by the Government,” Mr. Sharma clarified on being asked why the report was uploaded on his ministry’s website.

The said report is a compilation by a private sector consultancy firm Accenture of three studies undertaken by the Planning Commission and private sector firm Deloitte, Confederation of Indian Industry and KPMG and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Bain, Mr. Sharma said.  

“Rajasthan is better than Gujarat on some of the parameters, West Beangal is ahead on others as is Maharashtra…aren’t other states part of India…why is Mr. Modi trying to distort the report’s findings to show only Gujarat is ahead,” the minister said.

He further explained that the reports' rating Gujarat was not on state acquisition for farm land. "The rating is for the state's industrial development corporation's allocation for industrial zone land and not land that Mr. Modi has given at throw away prices to a single entity".