The idea came up after discussions with the National Association of Manufacturers, one of the most influential and leading trade association in the US, during a recent visit by an Indian delegation led by Ashwani Kumar, minister of state for industry.
A note to this effect was immediately sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for consideration after the return of the delegation, said Ajay Dua, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion in the ministry of commerce and industry.
The Indian team to the US comprised officials from the petrochemicals and commerce ministries and chief secretaries of four states - West Bengal, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The main idea was to woo investments for petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment regions.
After the meeting with NAM, Dua said the idea of setting up manufacturing investment regions came up and the government was considering setting up five such regions spread across 100 square km.
According to Dua, this would be an ideal model for public-private partnership. The states were being encouraged to enact a law for the investment regions.
Within the investment regions, special economic zones could be included and the project could be combined with e-governance. The states had not been identified as yet and the process would depend on incentives being offered by them.
Investment regions in India were being conceptualised on the lines of existing models in Antwerp, Singapore, Shanghai and Thailand. Typically, such regions would offer tax breaks and other incentives, with the government playing the role of a facilitator.
It was likely that the manufacturing investment regions would toe the same policy as the PCPIRs, where the central government had decided in principle to set up chemical hubs in regions, which already had large chemical and petrochemical units.
The writer is in Tokyo at the hospitality of India Brand Equity Foundation.
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