State of Uttarakhand has gained in potential to create employment opportunities for its 3 lakh talented pool by setting up Institutes in the field of Food Processing, Agri Biotech and Pharma.  With such institutions in place, it will attract nearly Rs.50,000 crore of investment in next 5-7 years and make it as the lead state for investment attractions in Northern part of the country.

In an exhaustive Blue-Print  prepared by ASSOCHAM on `Uttarakhand : Unbounded Opportunities, it has been pointed out that the suggested institutes will generate knowledge and technology and prevent mass scale migration to cities beyond its geographical boundaries.

The Blue-Print which will be submitted to Chief Minister of Uttrakhand by the ASSOCHAM President, Mr. Venugopal N. Dhoot, however, adds that places like Musoorie, Rishikesh, Chamoli, Rudraprayg, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Almora, Naintal, Pithoragarh, Champawat etc. are repository of rich variety herbs in which the identified institute can come up.

Over 170 medicinal and aromatic plant species are grown in their foothills.  In addition, fruit like apples, oranges, pear, grapes peach, plum apricot, litchi, mangoes and guava are widely grown in the state and therefore have immense potential for development of horticultural crops.

Mr. Dhoot pointed out that other emerging areas which offer opportunities for corporate investments include tourism, especially adventure tourism, building up of sports centres like Golf Courses and creation of IT infrastructure, power etc.

At present, Uttarakhand’s 85% gross cultivated area is  used for self-consumption for households except in Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun districts and thus there is need to enhance agri, biotech, horticulture and floriculture crops productivity and production in it.

4 Agri Export Zones and 1 Biotech park near Pantnagar are already coming up in the State.  The presence of suggested institutes will impart professional training to enable its talented pool to gear up for food processing, agri and biotech companies. The state can acquire Top 10 rank in fruit and vegetable productions by way of using innovative agri biotech varieties of technologies. It had fruit and vegetable production of approx. 1925 and 1000 metric tonnes in 2006.

Citing reasons for necessity of pharma institutes in Uttarakhand, Mr. Dhoot revealed that pharma companies like Medicamen, Elder Pharma etc., are facing shortage in the availability of technically competent and qualified manpower which hinder prospects of the industry.

The ASSOCHAM President, however, demand that the proposed institutes be given fiscal incentives such as 10 year tax holiday exemption, easy availability of loans with moderate interest rates to enable the State to garner free flow  of domestic and overseas food processing, agri biotech and pharma firm’s investments.

The State is becoming ideal destination for investment which is witnessed from the fact that during 2006, Rs.5633 crore worth of corporate investment from 31 projects has been received by Uttarakhand which is ahead of Madhya Pradesh in which Rs.4878 crore of investment was poured in in 23 projects.

Corporate Investments in 2006-07
State  Project  cost Amount (Rs. crore)
Jharkhand  7,174
Delhi  6,359
Punjab  5,902
Uttarakhand  5,633
Madhya Pradesh  4,878
Companies like Global Auto Tech, Alps Industries Ltd., HLL, Atlas Cycle have invested  Rs.145 crore, Rs.110 crore, Rs.101 crore and Rs.30 crore respectively in products like automobile, natural dyed cotton, cosmetics & toiletries, cycle etc

Real estate is another emerging area where the State is receiving overseas and domestic investments in housing, hotels etc.  Realty players Assotech and Supertech have joined hands to develop a 47-acre integrated township in Uttarakhand at an investment of Rs 850 crore. Delhi-based Assotech and Supertech formed a 50:50 joint venture to develop the ‘Metropolis Cities’ township at Rudrapur which would mainly consist of 2,000 apartments, a 5-star hotel and about 1.6 lakh sq ft of retail space. The construction of the first phase, consisting of about 500 flats, has already begun and is likely to be completed in 3 years.  Emaar MGF one of the world’s leading real estate developers signed an agreement with the government  for designing, constructing and operating/ managing a five star hotel and convention centre in Dehradun with an investment of Rs.200 crores in 2 years period.

The ASSOHAM Chief also called that Indian Inc. should participate in the State industrial developments to set up infrastructure facilities in promising sectors like Adventure Tourism, Real estate and IT.

According to ASSOCAM findings, the State government is now also setting up a Land Bank exclusively for boosting infrastructure facilities like hotels for tourists.  In its initiatives, partnership with a few private players have already been established. The State government is also identifying new tourists destinations in view of over crowded areas like Mussorie, Nainital etc.  In its attempt, they have launched three new circuits for tourists in different parts of the state and 10 more circuits have also been identified.

For setting up of IT hubs, the ASSOCHAM has suggested that the places like Musoorie, Hardwar, Rishikesh, Pantnagar, Almora etc. will be an ideal destination for setting up IT and ITeS hubs  which will become a key drive for GDP growth of the state  To establish conducive IT infrastructure, the state government is providing enough fiscal incentives like stamp duty subsidies, no entry or purchase tax on IT hardware, special incentives for mega projects  and creation of Venture Capital Funds for financing viable ideas in the IT sector and lending in the sector shall be considered as priority sector loaning by state level financial institutions.

Source: www.assocham.org

::Housing Projects in Dehradun Uttarakhand::