Gujarat aims at 15% industrial growth

'Brand Gujarat' is on the roll and the state government is aiming to reach out globally this time.

To ensure an accelerated industrial growth of about 15 per cent for the next five years, the state government plans to come up with a 'new industrial policy', which includes an exclusive road map to building market infrastructure.

According to the new policy, the state will create room for three new economic corridors to house four special investment regions (SIR), 10 logistic parks for Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and a slew of industrial parks, sources close to the development told Business Standard. The new policy will talk of port-led development.

According to the policy, the state government will offer some incentives on electricity and stamp duty, sources say. Besides, special emphasis will be laid on cluster development, they add.

The three economic corridors are Bharuch-Dahej-Umargaon, Vadodara-Mehsana-Palanpur, and Surendranagar-Rajkot-Morbi-Kandla.

To ensure a hassle-free availability of title-clear land, the state will create a special 'land bank' for industrialists. A single-window clearance has been proposed for this, say sources.

The new policy will be unveiled by May after which the state government aims to market 'Brand Gujarat' before the next Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit, which is scheduled for January 2009.

In this new policy, the state aims to develop logistic parks falling under DMIC. The routes chosen for this include Palanpur-Mehsana, Ahmedabad-Surendranagar, Gandhidham-Samakhiyari, Dahej-Bharuch and Hazira-Surat.

The state government is aiming to lure sizeable chunk of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

in the forthcoming summit, sources said.

The state's industrial policy, which was declared in 2003 for a term of five years, needs to be replaced by the end of this year.

Till date, the state has received investments worth Rs 5,62,438 crore (Rs 5.62 trillion), which includes Rs 1,86,823 crore (Rs 1.86 trillion) from the manufacturing sector, Rs 8,810 crore (Rs 88.1 billion) from mining, Rs 2,14,748 crore (Rs 2.14 trillion) from energy, Rs 88,746 crore (Rs 887.46 billion) from services, Rs 48,228 crore (Rs 482.28 billion) from construction and Rs 15,083 crore (Rs 150.83 billion) from irrigation.

Gujarat has 51 special economic zones (SEZs) sanctioned in its favour, involving an estimated investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

The three Vibrant Gujarat Summits held in the past have seen MoUs signed for Rs 6.5 lakh crore investments. Of this, 80 per cent of the projects have been implemented or are in various stages of implementation, claimed a top government official.

The Centre has set a growth target of 11.2 per cent for Gujarat. In order to achieve this, the state aims an industrial growth of 14.5 to 15 per cent.

"All of these have been considered while framing the new policy," a senior government official said.

To cater to the needs of trained manpower, the state government will create a synergy between industry and education, wherein the needs of the sectors will be borne in mind while deciding the course content.