Eight firms vying for major consulting contract in Uttar Pradesh
The task is a mammoth one: Planning out how to take the Uttar Pradesh's gross state domestic product (GSDP) to $1 trillion by 2025 – currently at $230 billion. Eight organisations reportedly fancy the challenge and have joined the bidding process.
Growing from $230 billion to $1 trillion in five years requires a growth rate of around 45% per year. Last year – a solid one for Uttar Pradesh – saw a growth rate of 7%. The state government wants to up the ante, and how. In conversation with the Hindustan Times, economic experts labeled the plan as an “aspirational goal rather than an achievable target.”
Despite acknowledging the steepness of the target figure – and having witnessed the Covid-19 economic impact – the Uttar Pradesh government put out a request for proposal (RFP) in June, calling on consultants to draw up a plan to meet the targets.
Eight bids have come in from consultancies and research institutes, including from Boston Consulting Group, Grant Thorton, Nangia and Co, Deloitte and IIM-Ahmedabad.
A high-powered committee under the chief secretary is currently shortlisted the companies that will be invited to the presentation round. “Thereafter, the technical bids would be opened and evaluated, followed by financial bids,” said a senior officer to the Hindustan Times.
For the selected consultant, the job description is large and complicated. According to the RFP document, the plan should specify “monthly, quarterly and annual key performance indicators, how to measure them, and who should measure them and its online reporting mechanism.”
The consultant is also tasked with scrutinising Uttar Pradesh’s existing state infrastructure and institutions to point out factors that can help or hinder growth. All this must be done in the context of a modernising economy, taking into consideration economic trends across sectors and identifying best practices from around the world. The consultant will “assign targets and how to achieve them for each sector towards one trillion (dollar) economy.”
Powering ahead
With more than 200 million people – roughly the population of Brazil – Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state and the third largest by GDP. The numbers represent the region's significance for India from an economic standpoint. Primed to become the second largest economy in the world by 2050, India’s immediate goal is to reach $5 trillion in output by 2025.
The central government is taking myriad measures to meet these targets, featuring land & labour reforms, corporate tax cuts, manufacturing incentives and several others. Individual state governments, meanwhile, are looking to up their contribution by focusing on key strengths.
In related news, the Andhra Pradesh government recently enlisted management consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to advise on an economic development plan – a process that yielded actionable insights.
