GANDHINAGAR | Jul 01, 2015: Due to the dilly-dallying by the state government in deciding incentives for the mega industrial proposals under the New Industrial Policy announced in January 2015, projects worth more than Rs 10 lakh crore are held up, said sources in the industry and mines department.
Incidentally, the one-year extension granted to Gujarat government's Mega Industrial Project Scheme under the previous industrial policy lapsed on June 30, 2015, without any announcement of further extension. Sources in the industry and mines department said that the ultra mega projects (worth over Rs 4,000 crore); mega projects (worth Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 4,000 crore) and large projects (Rs 10 crore to Rs 1,000 crore) that were expected to get approval under the lapsed scheme, have all been put on hold.
Now the government says that these projects will be taken up for official sanction under the new industrial policy announced in January 2015. But no steps have been taken toward this, though six months have passed since the announcement about the new policy.
The high-level committee of secretaries set up to evaluate applications for mega projects has also not held a meeting for the past several months. The complaint most often heard in industrial sectors these days is that only the automobile industry is being given importance under the new policy while projects from other sectors are being ignored.
A senior official of the industry and mines department said that the department is yet to decide what kind of financial and other incentives the state government will offer to Ultra Mega, Mega and Large projects under the new industrial policy.
"The incentives scheme under the new policy is still under discussion," the official said. "Due to change of additional chief secretary (industry and mines department), the chief secretary and other matters, the department could not decide details of the new policy," the official said.
"We are studying incentives provided by other states. The draft of the new policy will be prepared soon and after that we will make a presentation before the CM. It will take a few more months,'' said the official.
A number of major industries which had signed MoUs at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2015 and at earlier summits have been waiting for policy clearance from the state government as this will help them decide whether to continue in Gujarat, or move to some other state which offers good incentives, said a source.
Delay affecting other sectors too
Gujarat government has also failed to announce its new policies for agriculture, tourism, solar power, wind power and revival of sick units among others that were promised prior to Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January this year. As a result, projects worth thousands of crore in these sectors are also facing delays.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)