~ In the past 1.5 years Assam has seen a surge in accumulated investment of 6500 Cr with an average investment to the tune of over 4000 Cr per year as compared to 2000 Cr per year during 2007-2014 ~
Kolkata, November 27, 2017: The pre-Summit road show for Advantage Assam highlighted the abundance of resources in the state, its connectivity to South Asian countries to attract global and national investors and potential sectors for investment that the government is focussing on. The event witnessed the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, the industrial minister, Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary, Additional Chief Secretary, Ravi Capoor (IAS), Chief Secretary of Assam, Shri Vinod Kumar Pipersenia along with other government officials of Assam.
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Advantage Assam Summit: Focus Sectors
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Agriculture & Food Processing including Organic Cultivation & Bamboo
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Handloom, Textile & Handicraft
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Inland Water Transport, Port Township & River front Development
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IT & ITeS
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Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices
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Plastic & Petrochemicals
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Power
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Tourism, Hospitality & Welness
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Civil Aviation
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Petroleum and Natural gas
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Assam, the largest economy of North-Eastern India is rapidly taking strides towards employment generation and inclusive growth through a balanced pattern of industrial investment. The Government of Assam has been making consistent efforts to propel investments in the state. With the cabinet’s recent approval of seven sectoral policies and procurement policy in the areas of IT and Electronics, Start-ups, Bio-technology, Sugar, Tourism, and Handloom and Textiles, the state is set to attract investment and harness available resources to boost existing entities and attract more industries to the region. In its endeavour to attract investment in the state, the Government of Assam is initiating for the first time ‘Advantage Assam – the Assam Global Investors Summit 2018’ – an investment promotion and facilitation summit in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on February 3-4, 2018 in Guwahati. The Summit will cast the spotlight on the state’s readiness to become an ideal destination for investments capable of catering to not only the North East but the rest of India. The summit will witness primary focus on sectors such asAgriculture and Food processing, Handloom, Textile and Handicraft, Tourism, Hospitality and Wellness, Plastics and Petrochemicals, Power, Pharmaceutical and Medical devices, Heavy Industries, Inland Water Transport, Port Township and River Front Development and IT & ITeS, Civil Aviation, Petroleum and Natural gas.
The tag line of the initiative “Indias Expressway to ASEAN” is self-explanatory as it suggests the geo-strategic advantage it enjoys with various South East Asian countries such as Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, which are potential investors for the state’s growing sectors like IT & ITES, Tourism, Agriculture, River Transport, Plastics and Petrochemicals, etc. The strategic location of Assam in proximity of the growing ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies provides easy access to a market of over 800 million consumers. All major ASEAN cities are located geographically closer to Assam as compared to other states in India. Thus, Assam having a geo-strategic advantage is emerging as an ideal destination for investments capable of catering to not only the North East and the rest of India but also to serve as the manufacturing and services hub for the ASEAN region, one of the world’s fastest growing region with an economy of over USD 3 trillion.
The Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam 2014 lays emphasis on the core objectives of increasing the Gross State Domestic Product by way of facilitating growth of various economic activities including Manufacturing and Service sectors. The State plans to focus on generating income & employment, encouraging sustainable Investments, building a vast pool of skilled human resource and provide special thrust on economic activities based on local resources. Assam is also slated to have a new industrial policy in line with the North East Industrial & Investment Promotion Policy which is in the pipeline. The state is working resolutely to reap rich dividends from the Act East Policy and has therefore set up an Act East Policy Affairs department. With Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Sri Narendra Modi considering the north – east region as the new growth engine, Assam is set to place a positive proposal before its potential investors to invest in the state without any dilemma ensuring that the government would provide all possible support to them to develop their businesses.A large land bank is already available for allotment to industries. Twenty (20) Industrial Estates, eight (8) Mini Industrial Estates, seventeen (17) Industrial Areas and twelve (12) Growth Centres in the state within which seven hundred and twenty-two (722) industrial units are already functioning. The State also has Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) in Amingaon (Kamrup District) wherein forty-seven (47) industrial units are producing diverse export quality products. The Government in order to boost its industrial capacity, has also set up Industrial Growth Centres at Balipara – Sonitpur district, Matia – Goalpara district, Chaygaon-Patgaon-Jambari–
Assam also has the unique and vast bio-resource potential to offer remarkable economic benefit through commercialization of these resources using biotechnology. The natural resource based industries viz., petroleum, natural gas and coal also entail biotechnology intervention in terms of enhanced production, pollution control and several other aspects. To this effect, the State has already charted out Biotechnology Policy For The Stae Of Assam, 2018 – 2022 with a vision of attaining high capability in biotechnology education, research and commercialization and utilizing biotechnology to build up a sustainable industry ecosystem for creation of wealth, income generation, employment generation and promotion of equity. The policy is one of the best in the country and also the most competitive among states of India. Government of Assam has been providing financial support to the state universities for biotechnology infrastructure development. The Government had also taken initiative for establishment of the “Guwahati Biotech Park” in the year 2008 with land for the same been provided by the government. The primary objective of the Biotech Park is to promote research as well as develop entrepreneurship in the field of biotechnology and allied areas. The Government of Assam, through GBP, in the last few years, has also been organizing many skill development workshops, industrial conclaves, entrepreneurship development programs, technical talks and biotech promotional events. An incubation centre with an investment worth Rs. 35 Cr by the Government is already functioning with many start-ups within the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. The State has also signed an MoU with NITI AYOG recently to bring in multinational companies into the business zone of the biotech park and also set up world class futuristic infrastructure. Assam is also offering more incentives under the industrial policy too to make individual concessions where ever necessary to enable biotech industries.
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SECTORAL PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENTAL HIGHLIGHTS
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Agriculture and Food processing
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Assam plans to transform its cropping intensity from 150 percent to 200 per cent. Apart from paddy, Assam is expanding in other areas of cultivation such as horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry and other plantation crops. Assam is the single largest tea producer globally, and contributes towards 50% of the total tea produced in India. Assam tea is exported largely into markets such as Europe, Australia and the Middle East. A tea park is being set up at Chaygaon in Kamrup district in an area of approximately 100 acres of land. The park would provide facilities for blending, storage and transhipment of Assam Tea for the world market. The Govt. of Assam has also proposed a Tea Museum in Dibrugarh.
The Govt. of Assam has developed an organic produces market complex in Guwahati. Bamboo, one of the major agricultural crops can make a huge difference in the economy of Assam. 66% of the growing bamboo stock of the country is located in North-East Assam. A bamboo park has been set up at Chaygaon with an investment of rupees 62.28 crore.
The fisheries sector contributes around 3 percent to the State Domestic Product. The existence of vast water resources suitable for pisciculture in the state covering an area of 4.77 lakh hectares justifies greater investments in the sector to bring the productivity levels to self-sufficiency and further add value for export competitiveness.
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Handloom, Textile and Handicraft
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Assam contributes significantly to India’s foreign exchange through textile trade. The Government of Assam has been following a handloom policy which has been revised in 2017. The State has been encouraging and highlighting the handloom sector through a lot of initiatives and trade conducive policies.
Assam has a unique textile tradition. Presently this sector is generating significant employment. The 3rd Handloom Census in 2009 showed that the total weaver household units had recorded a decline. However, it is not the case with Assam. On the contrary it has shown an increase in the number of households from the second to the third census. The state does not produce much cotton but it leads way through production of silk, jute, ramie, bamboo etc. Assam is also the only area which produces all commercially viable silk. Assam is famous in the textile market for its production of Muga – The golden silk. Raw silk production in the state during 2015-16 was recorded to be 3,325 MT whereas during 2016-17 (up to May 2016), raw silk production in the state stood at 1,137 MT. Seneh Jori, an Assam Silk Outreach Mission, aims to produce 1 million kg of Muga silk and 10 million kg of Eri Silk by 2025.
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Tourism, Hospitality and Wellness
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The Government of Assam has geared up to unravel new destinations in the state, expand overall tourism infra development that will further accelerate its growth. The State Govt. of Assam has since worked ardently towards promoting and setting up the Corporation for growth and development of tourism in Assam.
The tourist contribution to GDP is around 5.5 percent. India has a budding market in rural tourism. The government announced an ambitious tourism policy by declaring the sector an industry with an aim to increase tourist inflow by at least two to three times within next five years. The 'Tourism Policy of Assam 2017', effective from January 2017 till December 2022, lays special emphasis on making the state a destination of film making by offering a range of incentives to movie producers. This tourism policy paper was aimed at creating a policy framework to move tourism into a major economic sector of Assam increasing the inflow of tourists within the next few years. The government envisions development of quality, reliable, sustainable & resilient infrastructure, including regional and trans-border infrastructure, to support economic development & human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all. The govt. believes that private sector investing in Assam’s Tourism market can make this possible.
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Plastics and Petrochemicals
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Assam shares it borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh and is also connected to Myanmar. Assam is also well connected to Bangladesh and South East Asian countries through the
AH-1. The state therefore has an advantage of being a base for the plastic and petrochemical industries looking to expand their business in the ASEAN countries or BBIN. Assam also has the Tinsukia Plastics Park which is just 5 kilometres away from the nearest railway station producing High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) and Poly-Propylene (PP). The state is also working towards achieving the Hydrocarbon Vision for North East Region for 2030 which aims to have the North-East Region atop the Indian Energy map.
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Power
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Assam had a total installed power generation capacity of 1599.65 MW, of which 364.7 MW is produced by State Utility. The present handling capacity of the Assam Electricity Grid Corporation is approximately 1650 MW. Assam has an identified potential of generating 14000 MW of Solar Power.
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Pharmaceutical and Medical devices
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Assam is a potential base for manufacturing of generic drugs with focus on exporting to neighbouring countries. In alignment with India’s ‘Act East’ policy, the enormous trade and commerce co-operation potential that exists between India and its eastern neighbours, and the ASEAN countries should be exploited further. Considering Assam’s proximity to the growing pharmaceutical markets in India’s eastern neighbourhood. It is logical for established Pharmaceutical companies to set up manufacturing units in Assam. On completion of the upcoming connectivity linkages with SE Asia and ASEAN, Pharmaceutical manufacturing units located in Assam will have tremendous cost savings in logistics while serving the markets in India’s eastern neighbourhood.
The State has already developed key infrastructure to promote and support the pharma sector further. It has a 35-acre Pharmaceuticals Hub at Balipara, a biotech park in Guwahati and a 120 - acre proposed Pharmaceutical Park at Chaygaon, Kamrup. The state has received more than $1 billion worth of investments over the past one year. The government has attributed these investments from companies such as Unilever, Dabur and Sun Pharma, to Assam positioning itself as a hub of trade servicing the mega markets of the Southeast Asian nations. The State plans to secure further investments from private players in the pharmaceutical sector. During 2016-17, more than 9 pharmaceutical units have started their production with a cumulative investment of INR 921 Cr. The major players are Sun Pharmaceuticals, Ajanta Pharmaceuticals, Pure & Cure Healthcare. Hetero Lab, Hetero Healthcare and Natco Pharma etc. Assam is home to 300 types of medicinal herbs and plants. The Brahmaputra valley alone houses 150 varieties of herbs and plants of commercial value. An estimated 5-10% of Assam’s plants and herbs have been commercially used for medicinal purposes.
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Inland Water Transport, Port Township and River Front Development
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The Govt. of India’s Ministry of Shipping has taken up projects such as the Integrated National Waterways Transportation Grid (INTG) Jal Marg Pariyojana. The Govt. of India is also providing assistance for creating inland waterways transportation in North Eastern States including Sikkim under the Central Sector Scheme (with 100% grant from Ministry of Shipping for Infrastructure Development). Increased industrialization in North East Region has lead to significant movement of raw materials, export of cargo to countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar coupled with low cost of transportation through Inland Water Transportation, increased tourism potential and establishment of port townships and industrial hubs along the Brahmaputra and Barak.
With 15 National Waterways (NW), Assam has nearly 10% of cumulative length of all 111 NWs in India. 24 hour night navigation facilities are put in place by IWAI (Inland Waterways Association of India) from Dhubri to Dibrugarh. Inland waterways provides an energy efficient, cost effective alternate mode of transportation for bulk commodities. It is estimated that 1 liter of fuel can move 105 MT on inland water compared to 24 MT on road and 85 MT on railways. In order to modernise and transform inland water transport in Assam, the World Bank has pledged to assist Govt. of Assam through a phase wise project which includes comprehensive studies for institutional restructuring, long term planning, restructuring of regulatory department of IWT, design of SAR organisation, fleet modernisation, procurement and local assembly of RoRo passenger/ cargo catamarans for trade at selected routes, development of aids to navigation for 24 hours service, inventive scheme for local councils and country boats.
The State envisages huge scope for development of river fronts and operation of river taxis from major locations like Guwahati to North Guwahati - Darrang to Morigaon, Guwahati to Umananda, Palasbari to Sualkuchi, Guijan to Dibru Saikhowa, Bogibeel to Dhemaji, Neemati Ghat to Kamalabari- Guwahati to Bogori, Guwahati to Sualkuchi, Neamati Ghat to Majuli and Dhubri.
Ro-Ro terminal has become operational at Dhubri and IWT Dept, Govt. of Assam has identified four ports namely - Silghat, Pandu, Karimganj and Dhubri which will be used as immigration checkpoints.
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IT & ITeS
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The promotion of IT & ITES through new IT & Electronic Policy Assam 2017 to be among key focus areas of the Government of Assam. Assam has a large domestic and regional market share waiting to be tapped. Proximity to BBIN & ASEAN markets can be a growth driver for the IT & ITES industry. A 10 GBPS international internet gateway in the neighbouring state of Tripura is infact India’s third IIG after Mumbai and Chennai. Today, Assam is on the threshold of becoming a valued destination for ICT Industry, and to acknowledge this aspect, the State has decided to notify a new IT & Electronics Policy 2017 to promote Assam as one of the pioneer ICT hubs. The idea is to enhance the capacity and skill sets of the new generation for employment in IT/ITeS/ESDM sector, promoting innovation and start-ups. This Policy is applicable from the date of notification and shall remain in force from 1.1.2018 to 31.12 2022. Thrust will be given for creation and improvement of civil infrastructure, connectivity among IT Hubs and ancillary facilities. IT Parks, High tech cities, Research and Innovation hubs for Start-ups, Incubators and accelerators, ESDM clusters, Prototyping, Testing and quality labs, High Performance & Supercomputing infrastructure, Data Centres, Business Process Management (BPM), Centres of Excellence etc.
Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) is the fastest growing segment of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. The State Government has taken a holistic view of the challenges and fiscal disabilities faced by the ESDM industry and these are addressed using a combination of promotional initiatives, post-performance incentives, fiscal measures, capital subsidies and other capacity building measures. Government of Assam outlines the Promotional initiatives under this Policy, which will enable the State to be a leading contributor in India’s ESDM sector and make the State a preferred destination for investments in ESDM. The policy devised by the government provides most attractive incentives to investors in IT and IT enabled services.
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