Ease of doing business in India relies on simpler land acquisition: Indo-US summit

Simpler, cleaner land acquisition and development are crucial for India's growth as the next world-class manufacturing hub, according to panelists at the 16th Indo-US Economic Summit.

Despite the pandemic and economic slump, these factors would allow India to emerge from circumstances and occupy the place formerly held by China, experts expressed at the summit hosted by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce.

"Land in India has always been a complex subject with a multitude of state, central and common laws around it. The ease and availability of land and space are important for establishing manufacturing businesses here, whether they are American businesses moving to India or domestic manufacturers. Specifically, there are five key factors of importance to them - clean land titles, easy approvals, good-quality (rail, road and air) connectivity, proximity to add-quality infrastructure and proximity to urban centres", explained Abhishek Lodha, Managing Director and CEO, Lodha Developers.

The problem, the panellists held, begins with land records and titles, before we even move to the issues around the sale and the measures used for acquisition. In ten of our 28 states, a physical visit to the Registrar’s office is necessary, to access land titles and land records. Then comes the disputes around land acquisition, be it government-aided acquisition or private acquisition. In our country, land-related disputes form 60 to 70 per cent of civil litigation.

"Running a business in India, one which involves land, requires a sense of local cooperation too", said Stuart Gibson, Co-Founder and CEO, ESR (E-Shang Redwood).

“India aspires to grow its GDP from $3 trillion to $5 trillion in the next few years. The three components of GDP, Agriculture, Services & Industry, currently at about 15%, 62% & 23% respectively, will need land disproportionately as the economy doubles. The agricultural need for land will go down due to technology and land pooling. The services sector itself will contribute less in percentage terms as wages rise, and companies migrate to cheaper destinations as also the issue of land for services can be quickly resolved through the increase of FSI and better connectivity. It is Industry, already facing challenges, which will see a bottleneck because of the dearth of availability of land. Factories need horizontal footprint and scalability, which cannot be solved by increasing FSI." said Naushad Panjwani, Regional President, IACC - West India Council, one of the core organisers for the event.