By Vishal Gulati
Shimla, Jan 5 (IANS): After relaxing land rules to enable investors to buy plots offered by the industrial department, Himachal Pradesh will now speed up industrial proposals by reducing the project clearance time-frame to 30 days.
"We are going to reduce as much as we can the period for granting of all clearances from various departments like pollution and revenue," Rajinder Singh, the director of industries, told IANS.
He said once the proposal gets clearance from the single window, headed by the chief minister, the time frame for giving clearances would be reduced to at least 30 days.
Soon after taking power in December 2012, the Virbhadra Singh government had fixed 90 days for granting clearances to industrial proposals.
Official sources said the department would soon start an online file-tracking system to enable the investors to know the status of their proposals.
The government is also planning to create a state investment promotion board that will monitor the investments in hydropower, industry, tourism and IT sectors.
"Effective steps have been taken to invite the big industrial houses. The chief minister is touring the country to woo them. So far investment proposals amounting to Rs.2,500 crore have been received," an official statement quoted Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri as saying.
The director said that in the second phase, the investment potential would be showcased in Delhi, Chandigarh and Punjab's industrial town Ludhiana, most probably next month.
In the first phase, the industries department held summits in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmadabad in November.
The Vardhman Group has said it will invest Rs.560 crore in Baddi town in weaving and fabric units which will be operational by June 2016. Likewise, the Indorama Group has committed to invest Rs.350 crore.
TVS Motor Co, whose representatives met the chief minister at the investors' meet in Bangalore, has pledged to invest Rs.300 crore to open its new engine manufacturing plant and to expand its existing facility.
Similarly, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, Volvo India and Dell showed interest in investing in the state.
Pharmaceutical major Torrent Group has sought permission from the state to set up its second facility with a proposed investment of Rs.200 crore.
The Torrent Group has invested Rs.325 crore in Himachal.
Investment proposals from Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej, Lupin, Pidlite, Adani Agrifresh, Aptech, Mukand Ltd, Weikfield Foods Pvt Ltd, Stanford English Academy and American Global Health Group were also received.
Official sources said in the manufacturing sector alone proposals worth Rs.2,000 crore have been received and these would be cleared by the single window clearance and monitoring authority this month.
Proposals in solar and biomass energy, tourism and IT sectors are also pending with the government.
To woo investors, the state has announced freezing of the power tariff up to 2018 at one fixed rate for the new industry.
The rates of electricity are already 20-30 percent lower in Himachal Pradesh than the neighbouring states.
Data shows that Himachal Pradesh got maximum investment from 2003 to 2010 when there was a special industrial package by the central government.
Most investments were in pharmaceutical, food processing, textile, packaging and light engineering sectors.