All for industry

In the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda (second from right), the Chairman of Mitsui and Co. India Ltd, Munetaka Onose, and the Managing Director of the HSIIDC, Rajeev Arora, exchange documents after signing an MoU for setting up an industrial transportation and logistics park, in Chandigarh on December 8, 2008.-AKHILESH KUMAR In the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda (second from right), the Chairman of Mitsui and Co. India Ltd, Munetaka Onose, and the Managing Director of the HSIIDC, Rajeev Arora, exchange documents after signing an MoU for setting up an industrial transportation and logistics park, in Chandigarh on December 8, 2008.

HARYANA has carved a niche for itself as an industry-friendly State that offers a rich reservoir of skilled, motivated and relatively low-cost manpower besides good infrastructure and harmonious industrial relations. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asserts that the industry-friendly policies pursued by his regime during the past four and a half years have made the State the cynosure of all investing eyes, both domestic and global.

Today, Haryana has succeeded in attracting sizable investment from multinational companies, large business houses, foreign investors, non-resident Indians and small-scale entrepreneurs.

Hooda proudly claims the State has received investment worth more than Rs.40,000 crore in the industrial sector since the announcement of its industrial policy on June 6, 2005. Industrial projects worth Rs.90,000 crore are under implementation, senior officials said.

They added that a multi-pronged strategy had been adopted to achieve the objective of attracting investment worth Rs.2 lakh crore and generating employment for two million people in the next 10 years. Rules and regulations have been simplified, an effective institutional mechanism has been created and strong infrastructure has been developed. Also, incentives and concessions have been given to industry, particularly in the backward areas.

Rajeev Arora, Managing Director of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), pointed out that Haryana received foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs.12,500 crore, out of which Rs.9,000 crore came after the implementation of the new industrial policy. The State, he said, had received the highest number of proposals in the country for Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The largest SEZ in the country was being set up by Reliance Industries in collaboration with the HSIIDC on a vast area covering Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts, Arora added.

According to him, Haryana ranks number one in the country in the implementation of entrepreneur memoranda/letters of intent for setting up large and medium industries. The number of large and medium units has increased from 162 in 1966 to 1,347 as of end December 2008.

Haryana accounts for more than 50 per cent of the passenger cars and 50 per cent of motorcycles manufactured in the country and for about 25 per cent of Indias total production of sanitary ware. One out of every four bicycles in the country is manufactured in Haryana.

There are about 80,000 small-scale units in the State. Moreover, about 1,000 projects have foreign technical/financial collaboration. As many as 3,865 Industrial Entrepreneur Memoranda (IEMs) and 248 Letters of Intent (LOIs) have been filed with the Government of India (up to December 2008) for setting up projects in Haryana, catalysing an investment of Rs.51,462.50 crore and Rs.4,834 crore respectively.

Out of these, 2,234 IEMs and 164 LOls, involving an investment of Rs.22,038.24 crore and Rs.3,775 crore, have already been implemented, resulting in the generation of employment for 3,92,779 and 46,270 people respectively.

Arora said 92 IEMs are under implementation, which involve an investment of Rs.3,741.82 crore. In 2007-08, 132 IEMs, catalysing investment of Rs.6,627.47 crore, were filed. In 2008-09, 43 IEMs, having an investment of Rs.1,356.95 crore and generating employment for 18,726 people, were filed up to October 2008.

So far as the large and medium sector is concerned, 613 IEMs have been filed, catalysing investment of Rs.15,680.42 crore and creating employment for 1,69,597 people.

Following the liberalisation of the economy, 291 units were registered with the Government of India as 100 per cent Export-Oriented Units (EOUs). Of these, 131 EOUs have gone into production, creating an investment of Rs.2,086.30 crore and providing employment to 14,572 people. At present, 26 EOUs are under implementation, which will catalyse investment of Rs.953.87 crore and provide employment to 2,717 people.

Furthermore, where licensing is compulsory, the Government of India has granted 99 industrial licences since July 1991. Units set up under 72 of these industrial licences were generating investment of Rs.688 crore and giving employment to 18,636 people.

The Chief Minister said it was a matter of pride that exports from Haryana crossed Rs.30,000 crore in 2007-08 the main items being software, handloom products, scientific instruments, garments, automobiles and automotive components, electrical appliances, rice, guargum, pickle and so on.

Two Investment Promotion Centres, one in Delhi and the other in Chandigarh, have been set up to act as a single-point contact agency to provide information, guidance and hand-holding services for venture location. To facilitate time-bound clearances/approvals from the State government agencies, the Haryana Industrial Promotion Act, 2005, has been enacted and a Self-Certification Scheme introduced.

Haryana is said to be the first State in the country to have introduced a labour policy to create a friendly environment and to ensure cordial relations between employers and employees.

For the development of industrial infrastructure, the HSIIDC has been designated as the nodal agency. It is in the process of acquiring about 20,000 acres of land for the development of industrial estates/parks, new economic hubs, special economic zones, petrochemical hubs, industrial townships, theme parks, food parks, a gems and jewellery park, an apparel park/textile park and a footwear and leather garments park.

Also, the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway is under implementation and economic hubs will be developed around it. The 135-kilometre, four-lane expressway will pass through major towns including Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh and Manesar. It is being built on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis at an estimated cost of Rs.1,200 crore. Land for the project 3,450 acres was acquired at a cost of Rs.630 crore.

The project has been awarded to the Madhucon-Apollo-DSC consortium with a concession period of 24 years. The Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Manesar provides amenities and facilities of international standards. In view of the success of this project, the State government has planned a massive expansion of IMT Manesar and new IMTs at four more places including Kharkhoda, Rohtak and Faridabad, Rajeev Arora said.

Officials said developers such as DLF, Unitech, Ansal and Adani groups have approached the State government for setting up industrial parks in Haryana.