Uttar Pradesh has taken a big leap in the field of investment and development in the last eight and a half years. Yogi government’s structural reforms, ease of doing business, digital governance and simple policies have transformed UP from a bottleneck to a breakthrough state.
Uttar Pradesh was long seen as a “bottleneck state”, where complex processes, delays and administrative hassles came in the way of development. But now the picture is different. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state has established itself as a “breakthrough state” where the environment for investment, industry and employment has continuously strengthened. This change is not the result of any single plan, but of deep structural reforms that took years.
Not paper reform, change in system
Yogi government made “Minimum Government-Maximum Governance” not just a slogan but the working style of administration. Policies as well as processes and digital systems were changed in such a way that industry, investors and common citizens – all three got direct benefits from it. The rounds of departments were reduced, the time limit for approvals was fixed and the entire system became more transparent than before.
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UP’s leap in ease of doing business
The impact of efforts to create a business-friendly environment was also visible at the national level. While Uttar Pradesh was at 12th place in the Ease of Doing Business ranking in the year 2017-18, in 2019 it reached the second place. The state got ‘Top Achiever’ status in 2022 and 2024. UP also continued to perform better in areas like logistics and commercial governance. This is an indication that reforms were not limited to mere announcements, but were visible on the ground.
Speed of approval changed from ‘Nivesh Mitra’
The ‘Nivesh Mitra’ portal launched for industrial approvals proved to be a game changer for the state. More than 525 services from 45 departments were made available on a single digital platform. Lakhs of applications were processed online and time bound approval was ensured in most of the cases. Now preparations are underway for ‘Nivesh Mitra 3.0’, which will have facilities related to real-time tracking, smart dashboard and national single window system, so that the investment process can become faster and simpler.
The complex compliance system, which was considered the biggest problem for the industry, was also simplified on a large scale. Thousands of compliances across dozens of departments were eliminated or simplified. Old laws and regulations were repealed, many provisions were decriminalized and requirements like licensing and registration were relaxed. This provided special relief to small traders and MSME sector.
Received recognition from the Centre, increased investor confidence
These reforms made in the field of de-regulation were also appreciated by the Central Government. Uttar Pradesh got first position in the country in “De-Regulation 1.0” program. This recognition is an indication that the uncertainty of rules has reduced in the state and an environment of administrative trust has been created. This is a clear message to investors that UP is now a state with stable and predictable policies.
Projects like expressway networks, defense corridors, industrial parks, electronics manufacturing, data centers and logistics hubs have identified Uttar Pradesh as an emerging industrial hub. These projects not only increased investment but also gave a new direction to employment, exports and local entrepreneurship.
The state has now entered the next phase of reforms, where the focus is on rapid implementation and concrete results. The focus of the government will be on monitoring of investment projects, time bound work and large scale employment generation for the youth. The achievements of the past years have made it clear that Uttar Pradesh has now moved beyond the obstacles of the past and is moving towards a new era of development and investment.
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