Hyderabad a marvel for ease of doing business, says US Ambassador

Hyderabad, Nov 27: US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster on Monday described Hyderabad as marvel for ease of doing business and a model for the rest of India. The pat for the southern city came at a news conference he addressed on the eve of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), beginning here on Tuesday.

He said he was impressed with the policies launched in Hyderabad to attract investment.

"Enormous amount of US investment has come into this city. Major US tech firms have their significant hubs here and this city is a marvel for ease of doing business," said Juster referring to the transformation since 2004 when he had last visited Hyderabad.

He lauded the Telangana government's industrial policy, which provides for all approvals for a business in 15 days and also holds officials accountable for their actions.

"It is the model for rest of country. When you see this type of reform process undertaken, the response from private sector will be increased investment as seen in Hyderabad. We hope to see elsewhere in the country as well," said Juster who is attending the first major event after taking over as the new Ambassador.

Asked about Moody's upgrading India rating, he complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for significantly moving India up the ladder in terms of ease of doing business.

"This is very important part in terms of economic reforms process that will help encourage US investment but the investment decisions are made by the private sector and not by the governments. These are really driven by the market place," he added.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, said five states had applied to host GES and two of them were shortlisted. He said Hyderabad was selected purely on the basis of merit. Stating that Hyderabad has created energy, tremendous vibrancy and huge amount of dynamism, he said it could beat other cities hands down.