If you thought that the hill state of Uttarakhand was only a paradise for birding, kayaking, trekking and holiday activities, you are wrong. For Uttarakhand has slowly turned into an industrial powerhouse, and is now seen as the next industrial hub, within an easy reach of the national capital.
To this effect, the state government today announced to launch ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit’ at the state capital Dehradun, between October 7 and 8. Industries body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the co-organisers of the more successful Vibrant Gujarat summit, has partnered with the state government to help it host its first-ever investors' summit.
"The Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be inaugurating the summit in Dehradun, which will be attended by a galaxy of investors from India and abroad," said Trivendra Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand's chief minister, while attending a roadshow in Delhi today.
The senior state ministers of Uttarakhand had also arrived at the national capital along with their Chief Minister in a bid to woo potential investors to the state.
Promising participation at the state's first-ever investors' summit were Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric Vehicles; Dhiraj Mohan, President, JBM Group; Phil Shaw, CEO, Lockheed Martin, India; Anil Kejriwal, Chairman, Microbrew Bistro Private Limited; Jeetendra Dharewa, CEO, Kaane Packaging; Harkanwal Wadhwa, Founder & COO, Azure Power; Suresh Goel, Director, Bikano (Bikanerwala) and Richard Mc Callum, Managing Director, UKBIC.
"The key objective of the roadshow was to share the investment opportunities in Uttarakhand and to seek active participation for ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’. The roadshow received an encouraging response and generated enormous interest among Delhi’s business community," said Rawat.
The Uttarakhand Government highlighted 12 focus sectors in the state, which include food processing, horticulture, floriculture, herbal and aromatic tourism, hospitality, wellness, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, natural fibres, IT, renewable energy, biotechnology and film shooting.
At the roadshow, Rawat extolled the new industries policy in the state which had bettered Ease of Doing Business rankings for the state. He also said that Uttarakhand would prove to be a safe bet for industrialists in Delhi.
“By virtue of being a young state, Uttarakhand has undiscovered potential. The state offers diverse agro-climatic conditions, providing a pool of growth opportunities for budding entrepreneurs,” said Utpal Kumar Singh, chief secretary, Government of Uttarakhand.
Promising transparency and a hassle-free experience in processing of the application to set up industries in the state, Singh said, the state has successfully instituted a single window clearance system for applications and developed an online platform for submitting the applications.
Uttarakhand, which has granted industry status to 'tourism', also has plans to upgrade several of its tourism destinations to explore better business possibilities. Several investment opportunities like Tehri Lake Development Masterplan, Destination Development at Rishikesh, Auli, Marchula, Development, operation and maintenance of ropeways, development of a hospitality university at Khanij Nagar were highlighted during the roadshow.
Among the several policy initiatives taken recently by the state, it has developed a State MSME Policy in 2015 and a Mega Industrial Investment Policy later on. "The climate in Uttarakhand is very nice, so we now want to better the industrial climate as well," said Rawat, addressing why the state needed to join the industrial summit bandwagon.