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New Delhi: Apex industry body ASSOCHAM today urged the Uttarakhand government to accelerate upgradation of infrastructure so that the state can emerge as a major tourism and investment destination in the country.
The state economy has been growing at an annual rate of 8.7 per cent since 2000-01. With 292 live investment projects worth Rs 99,564 crore, it ranks as one of north India’s lucrative investment destination, said The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in a study titled ‘Strategy to Sustain Growth Momentum in Uttarakhand.’
“There is enormous potential for Uttarakhand to grow at a much faster rate,” according to the study released by chairman of the chamber’s Northern Regional Development Council Lalit Khaitan and secretary general D.S. Rawat.
With many holy temples and cities – some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship – the state deserves good road, rail and air connectivity besides budget hotels.
“Religious and wildlife tourism can become key drivers of Uttarakhand’s economy. It is already well known for natural beauty and wealth of the Himalayas, the Bhabhar and the Terai,” the study said. “Two of India's mightiest rivers – the Ganges and the Yamuna – take birth in the glaciers here and are fed by myriad lakes, glacial melts and streams in the region.”
Uttarakhand’s agriculture sector has recorded nearly seven per cent growth since its inception. There is ample scope for floriculture, sericulture, horticulture, livestock, poultry and fisheries to grow, said ASSOCHAM.
The state government must facilitate contract farming by attracting investments from the private sector. Irrigation systems can be improved by employing modern technologies which are a must to boost productivity.
Special economic zones (SEZs) can be created with organic farms for herbal and medicinal plantation. A definite roadmap needs to be drafted to improve storage facilities, transport infrastructure and marketing network so that food processing industries can develop value-added products for domestic and foreign markets.
Industry-specific SEZs for information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, gems and jewellery besides manufacturing of sports goods also hold potential for growth and employment generation, said the ASSOCHAM study.
State-level development finance institutes like erstwhile industrial development corporations should be revived to support long-term financial needs of small and medium enterprises Developing strategic business services like IT, IT-enabled services, finance and insurance can be catalysts of growth and enhance the share of services in gross state domestic product (GSDP).
The state government should spell out a clear land acquisition policy with sufficient room for buyers and sellers to negotiate directly with minimal government role for attracting fresh investments from the private sector.
Uttarakhand has been jostling with perennial power shortage. Although over two-third of investments in the state has been in hydro-power generation, projects involving over 60 per cent of total amount pledged are not implemented due to various organisational and policy issues.
A separate cell under the chief minister’s leadership needs to be set up to address these issues. Small hydel power projects could be scattered across the state so that benefits of industrialisation can percolate down to the masses, said ASSOCHAM.
Skill development initiatives through public private partnership are a must to make up for the shortage of workforce in industrial sector. The private sector can contribute by promoting such projects to provide industry-relevant skills to rural youth.
Meanwhile, the chamber called for creating an enabling policy framework to rejuvenate economic activity in the state. The chamber also offered to conduct invest-marts in Uttarakhand and said the state government should set up 13 e-clusters each accommodating 1,000 units and creating four lakh new job opportunities.
The clusters could be in Almora (for food processing and handicrafts), Bageshwar (rice mills, herbal products), Chamoli (food processing), Dehradun (diary farming, rice and wheat production, garments), Haridwar (herbal products, diary farming and floriculture), Nainital (horticulture, pickle and sauce), Pauri Garhwal (food processing), Pithorgarh (fish and poultry farming), Rudra Prayag (food processing and herbal products), Tehri Garhwal (diary farming and floriculture), Udham Singh Nagar (food processing), Rajakkad (rice mills) and Uttarkashi (food processing).
Funds required to provide basic infrastructure at 13 new e-clusters is estimated at Rs 500 crore. There are more than 6,500 clusters operating in India but only 450 are recognised by the government. Of these, four are in Uttarakhand – Nainital (for herbal and aromatic plants, jeolikote), Hardwar (surveying instruments), Kashipur and Jaspur (textile printing), and Dehradun (support service centres for quality evaluation / assessment).
In Uttarkhand state economy, the power sector acquired lion’s share of over 76 per cent in total live investments till last year. Services, manufacturing and real estate are other significant sectors that have attracted major share of these investments.
As the share in manufacturing decreased by almost 30 per cent from Rs 10,784 crore as of December 2009 to Rs 7,598 crore in December 2010, the share in real estate and services sectors increased by over 153 per cent and 74 per cent respectively. About 79 per cent of total investments in the state were made by different government agencies.
However, investments of Rs 93,702 crore in Uttarakhand were just 0.9 per cent of total investments announced in the country in 2010 which totalled Rs 105 lakh crore. Of the total investments by public sector, the state’s share was 1.7 per cent and 0.3 per cent in private investments.
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