By Yin Jianhua
On July 22, the Conference on Optimizing Business Environment of the North Bund was held at the North Bund during the Global Promotion Season for Investment in Shanghai.
Focusing on the optimization of the business environment, the meeting mainly introduced the major achievements of Hongkou District in implementing the relevant policies of the central government and the municipal government to help enterprises out of difficulties and revitalize the economy since the outbreak of the pandemic. The Scheme (Version 5.0) of Innovation Pilot for Optimizing Business Environment in Hongkou was released. A group of city and district business environment experience officers was invited to participate in and supervise the whole process to test the effectiveness of various policies and the perception of enterprises.
According to an official of the Hongkou District Development and Reform Commission, thanks to years of intensive cultivation of "2 + 4 industries" and continuous optimization of the business environment, Hongkou District's economic operation performance in the first half of this year was brilliant under the severe impact of the pandemic. The general public budget revenue was 10.131 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 2.67%, ranking the first in the downtown area. The two leading industries, financial services and shipping services, grew against the trend. The district-level tax revenue reached 6.653 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 134.1%, accounting for 64.4% of the district's tax revenue, an increase of 35 percentage points over the same period last year. The leading and supporting role was further highlighted.
From Version 1.0 to Version 4.0 of optimizing business environment, Hongkou District has brought more benefits and convenience to enterprises with practical actions. The Scheme (Version 5.0) of Innovation Pilot for Optimizing Business Environment released this time combines the development and construction of the North Bund with the development of the "2 + 4" key industries, mainly including 112 initiatives in four fields, namely, government environment, legal environment, enterprise service and engineering construction. Among them, there are 72 measures to implement the Shanghai plan, 40 measures to reflect the characteristics of Hongkou, and 11 measures to optimize the business environment of the North Bund.
Especially since the outbreak of the pandemic, Hongkou has implemented relevant policies to help enterprises out of difficulties and revitalize the economy. As a result, the vitality of market was effectively stimulated, social confidence was boosted and economic growth was promoted stably.
So far, more than 1,000 households have been accepted for value-added tax rebate in fee reduction and tax reduction, with a tax rebate of nearly 1 billion yuan. The reduction and exemption of "six taxes and two fees" continued to be promoted. More than 4,000 enterprises benefited from the policy, involving nearly 14 million yuan in taxes and fees.
Regarding the policy implementation, we insist on timely implementation and accelerate implementation. We allocate 2.9 billion yuan of various special funds in multiple batches, benefiting more than 1,200 enterprises, and timely replenished enterprises.
In terms of rent reduction, the state-owned enterprises under the jurisdiction of Hongkou District have reduced the rent by more than 36 million yuan, benefiting 265 enterprises. At the same time, 24 business incubation bases in Hongkou were encouraged to provide rent relief and other services for settled enterprises, and the total amount of funds intended to be exempted exceeded 4.5 million yuan.
In terms of financial relief, the "Three-loan Linkage of Government and Bank for Enterprise" discount and guarantee fee subsidy was innovatively launched. The district government added a special financial fund of 100 million yuan. Through the platforms of "Xinyi Loan", "Keji Loan" and "Hongqi Loan", the fund was used for the interest subsidy and guarantee fee subsidy of enterprise loans. A total of 14 banks were cooperated to launch the inclusive financial credit for Hongkou’s economic revitalization, with a line of 16.4 billion yuan. At present, the total amount of bank financing loans led by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Agricultural Bank of China Limited, Bank of China Limited, China Construction Bank Corporation and Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. and other related banks has exceeded 2.3 billion yuan, benefiting more than 400 enterprises.
Speaking of employment, we actively promoted convenient ways to benefit enterprises, such as "Service without Application", "Acceptance even by Vacancies" and "Cloud Pre-review". A total of 7.61 million yuan of employment subsidies were issued, benefiting 360 enterprises.
In order to give full play to the effective actions of the government and actively promote financial services of the real economy, the meeting also facilitated 14 banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Limited to issue the inclusive financial credit line of Hongkou economic revitalization, and issued the first batch of loan of "Three-loan Linkage of Government and Bank for Enterprise". The main business of Shanghai Dawei Logistics Technology Co., Ltd., which obtained the loan, is a digital international logistics and supply chain service platform. Xu Yi, CEO, said that recently, the enterprise has obtained a 15 million low-interest loan from Bank of China Limited and the Hongkou District government, which has helped the small and medium-sized enterprise cut financing costs.
As an important part of Shanghai's "central radiation" strategy, the gold lettered signboard of "Shanghai's North Bund and Huangpu River’s Golden Triangle" has been polished. Following the Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference and the signing conference of key projects on the North Bund held at the North Bund in June, high-quality investment projects such as China Co-op Cereals and Oils Co., Ltd. and Zijin Mining Group Company Limited have come one after another, and the project of Shanghai Central Place, a high-energy commercial complex, has settled at the North Bund. The region has accumulated 37 billion yuan of investment. At the scene, Ruihua Health Insurance Co., Ltd., Shanghai Tianyan Private Fund Management Co., Ltd. and other key financial enterprises signed contracts and officially settled at the North Bund.