FM on cross-country mission to boost investment

The finance minister's whistle-stop tours to boost investor confidence continue. P Chidambaram on Tuesday reached out to industry in Bangalore and Hyderabad and discussed the progress of over 50 stalled projects, report CNBC-TV18's Appaji Reddem and Shreya Roy.

Policy hurdles and delayed approvals have put over 300 projects worth a mammoth sum of Rs 10 lakh crore in limbo. The finance minister is on a cross-country mission to get things moving. After Chennai and Mumbai, he turned his attention to Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Close to 50 projects across the two cities, in sectors such as infrastructure, power, and mining were reviewed in a day's time. The FM assured industry that chronic regulatory inertia in land acquisition, gas or coal linkages, environmental clearances, and forest clearances will be addressed.
RK Dubey, CMD, Canara Bank, Bangalore says, "He talked to promoters of each project, and noted down what has to be done. He wants to co-ordinate between state and center to make sure investments are made and loans by banks remain normal.”
BA Prabhakar, CMD, Andhra Bank, Hyderabad says, "The total investment involved in these projects is Rs 92,000 crore and the total bank funding involved in these projects is Rs 69,000 crore. FM was keen that the issues are resolved in these projects so that banks funding is released.”
In Karnataka alone, 22 projects were reviewed with the mining ban being a key pain point
Steel giants like JSW, asked the FM to expedite the opening of category A and B mines, and auctioning of C mines. Despite Supreme Court permits for category A and B mines, only 9 iron ore mines are currently operational in Karnataka, and this, they say, is bleeding  steel companies dry.
Meanwhile in hyderabad, 28 projects were reviewed by the finance minister.
The total value of stalled projects in AP is worth a staggering Rs 92,000 crore, Chidambaram said he will  create a special cell to resolve issues related to power and road infrastructure.
Industry is hopeful that the FM's interventions will lead to a pick up in stalled activity and expedite pending clearance.