In February 2017, Huai'an Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government initiated the "158" backbone enterprise cultivation project, aimed to foster 158 key enterprises including enterprises above designated size, high-tech enterprises, enterprises to be listed, "small giants" of an industry and key reserve enterprises. In February 2019, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government adjusted the project by optimizing the responsibilities and coordination of different departments, improving the work mechanism of leadership linkage, promoting the assistance of official unites, and so on. Thus, the project is implemented with clearer targets, stronger collaboration of different unites, and higher overall efficiency. 

In the first half of 2019, the sales revenue of these "158" key enterprises reached 63.25 billion yuan. The sales revenue of one hundred and ten industrial enterprises above designated size was 49.68 billion yuan, accounting for 47.5% of the sales of all industrial enterprises above designated size of Huai'an. The tax revenue of all the "158" key enterprises was 11.76 billion yuan, accounting for 41.6% of the totals tax revenue of Huai'an, an increase of 18.5% year on year. And the general budget revenue of these enterprises reached 2.69 billion yuan, accounting for 22.6% of the total of Huai'an, an increase of 2.9% over 2018.