Uttarakhand eyes Rs 20,000 crore investment from investor summit

Uttarakhand is targeting Rs 20,000 crore investment from ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’, in sectors including food processing, horticulture and floriculture, tourism and hospitality among others.

“We are promoting ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’ in five key cities in the country to attract investment into the state. We are providing incentives to investors and have a single window clearance, which clears proposals within 15 days and targeting an investment of Rs 20,000 crore during this summit,” Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said.

Uttarakhand is holding the roadshows in five cities including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi to attract investment in the state, in associate with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

The two-day ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’ will be held in Dehradun from October 7.

The 12 focus sectors of the state include, food processing, horticulture and floriculture, herbal and aromatic, tourism and hospitality, wellness and AYUSH, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, natural fibres, information and technology, renewable energy, biotechnology and film shooting, he added.

“Tourism is a major driver of economic growth and livelihood promotion in our state, with services sector contributing over 34 per cent to the total gross state domestic product (GSDP) in the year 2015-16. We are very serious about developing this, and recently gave it industry status to help investors avail incentives under Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and mega industrial policy,” Rawat added.

The Uttarakhand government delegation will also meet with film fraternity to apprise them of the several incentives including 50 per cent discount on rest houses, tax concessions for films with more than 50 per cent or more outdoor shooting among others.

“In order to encourage filmmakers to shoot their movies in the state, we provide incentives through our dedicated policy on film shooting. Recently, we exempted all films shot in the state from shooting charges. We have also constituted ‘Uttarakhand Film Development Council (UFDC)’, comprising 25 members from the film fraternity with an aim to develop local cinema,” Uttarakhand secretary, tourism and information and public relations, Dilip Jawalkar added.

In order to attract investment into the various sectors of the state and thus contribute to the development of the economy as a whole, the Government of Uttarakhand has taken several policy initiatives. In addition to the State MSME Policy 2015 and Mega Industrial & Investment Policy 2015, dedicated sector policies have been drafted to boost the industrial climate and act as a facilitator of business.

Uttarakhand offers a geographical advantage to budding entrepreneurs of Maharashtra. The state’s industry can cater to the important consumer market of the National Capital region due to its physical proximity and seamless connectivity. Important industrial areas of the state lie in the influence region of Amritsar Kolkata industrial corridor which will open up new opportunities. It also has a well-established industrial base of long-standing and reputed business houses, with a large number of ancillary units in Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, etc. Major players have set up their units in Uttarakhand due to congenial business environment with their state-ofthe-art operating practices being fed into the local production environment.