‘Herculean task’: Deloitte set to prepare Uttar Pradesh government’s $1-trillion strategy

Global professional services firm, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India has beaten Boston Consulting Group, Grand Thorton and iSAARC-UP IT consortium to emerge as the selected consultancy firm that would help the Uttar Pradesh government in the ‘herculean task’ of shaping its strategy to become a $1 trillion economy in the next five years.

A high-powered committee under the chief secretary has recommended Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India for the job and the state cabinet is likely to put its stamp of approval on it soon.

Speaking to FE on condition of anonymity, a senior state government official said that while Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, along with Boston Consulting Group, Grand Thorton and iSAARC-UP IT consortium qualified in the technical round, Deloitte emerged as the winner, as its composite technical and financial score was the best.

It may be mentioned that the Uttar Pradesh government has floated a global tender inviting consultants to develop a strategic framework and create an implementation roadmap to help it reach the goal of becoming a $1 trillion economy in the next five years and also design institutional reforms.

Given that the gross state domestic product (GSDP) in FY20 was about Rs 17.95 lakh crore, achieving the target will require raising it by over 4 times in five years.

Admitting that it is a “herculean task” that demands some giant steps to be taken by the state government, the RFP document states that the task requires “some well thought out and long-term strategies on a sustained basis and would also require organisational restructuring, focussed policies and rules for more effective governance, faster decision-making process and improved accountability”.

According to officials, the task was challenging in itself, but with the deep economic contraction caused by Covid-19, it has now become trickier to achieve the target. “To achieve the target, the state would require to raise the current growth rate of 7% substantially. The selected consultant will have to come up with some really out of the box idea to boost the size of GSDP to one trillion dollars,” said another official.