Lucknow (National Desk): Uttar Pradesh has transformed into India’s safest investment destination through strategic policy reforms and improved security measures, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said at FICCI’s National Executive Council Meeting in the state capital.
“The safest investment destination today can only be Uttar Pradesh,” CM Adityanath told industry leaders gathered from across the country, highlighting the dramatic turnaround in India’s most populous state.
The transformation has been driven by what CM Adityanath termed a “double engine” approach—coordinated governance between state and central governments—that has helped Uttar Pradesh become the country’s second-largest economy. The state’s GDP has more than doubled over the past eight years, with per capita income showing similar growth.
FICCI President Harshvardhan Agarwal lauded the state’s “unprecedented” progress, particularly highlighting the success of the recently concluded Mahakumbh and the transformation of Ayodhya. “From a robust law and order ecosystem to world-class infrastructure, expressways and airports, from ease of doing business to attractive sectoral policies—the scale and speed of progress is unprecedented,” Agarwal said, adding that the state’s aspiration to become a trillion-dollar economy in the next five to six years was “both bold and timely.”
“Uttar Pradesh has emerged as India’s growth engine in realising the vision of a developed India,” Yogi Adityanath said, noting the state now boasts the highest growth rate in the country.
Infrastructure development has been pivotal to this revival, with the state now home to 55 per cent of India’s expressways and the largest rail network in the country. The state is developing a 30,000-acre land bank along these expressways specifically for industrial development, with 4,000 acres already allocated.
Security concerns, once a significant deterrent for investors, have been comprehensively addressed. The state government recruited and training 60,200 police personnel simultaneously—an unprecedented feat, according to the chief minister—while focusing on transparent recruitment processes and capacity building.
“When a businessman invests, they need assurance not only of their personal security but also the security of their capital. The government guarantees both,” he emphasised.
These reforms have yielded concrete results, with the state attracting ₹1.5tn in investments over the past eight years. The government has distributed ₹40bn in industrial incentives this fiscal year alone—more than the total disbursed between 2017 and 2023.
The improvement in the business climate is further evidenced by the establishment of 960,000 new MSME units. The state has streamlined regulatory processes by implementing a single-window platform called “Nivesh Mitra” that provides access to more than 500 services.
Investor sentiment has shifted dramatically. “The perception issues that once plagued Uttar Pradesh have been systematically addressed,” Adityanath said, drawing parallels between the transformation seen during religious gatherings like Mahakumbh and the overall improvement in the state’s governance.
FICCI Uttar Pradesh State Council Chairman Manoj Gupta raised two key suggestions to further enhance the state’s industrial climate—activating waterways for cost-effective transportation and converting industrial land to freehold status. “Uttar Pradesh is a land-locked state, and entrepreneurs incur significant costs in freight,” Gupta noted, while praising the recent launch of the Varanasi-Haldia waterway as a milestone achievement that could potentially reduce transportation costs by 90 per cent.
The proposal to convert industrial lands from the current 99-year lease model to freehold status could substantially increase investment attractiveness, Gupta suggested. “If industrial land becomes freehold, believe me, the attraction for investment in Uttar Pradesh will increase manifold,” he said, noting this could play a crucial role in helping the state capitalise on the shifting manufacturing landscape as companies seek alternatives to China.
CM Yogi Adityanath called on business leaders to capitalise on the ecosystem developed in Uttar Pradesh, noting that investments in the state would contribute significantly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a self-reliant and developed India.
“Uttar Pradesh today has the highest growth rate, the largest MSME base, excellent land banks, and investor-friendly policies across 35 sectors,” he concluded, inviting industry leaders to be part of what he described as “India’s growth engine.”
