An investor to avail benefits up to Rs 200 cr

NEIDS 2017

Earlier, there were allegations of misappropriation of funds under the transport subsidy. So the road sector has been dropped in the new policy.

— Chandra Mohan Patowary

By our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 22: When the Congress was in power at Dispur, there were allegations of misappropriation of the transport subsidy available under the then industrial policy. In order to curb such malpractices, the new industrial policy, christened as North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017, has dropped the road sector from the ambit of transport subsidy. In the new scheme, transport subsidy is available only in the three sectors of rail, waterways and air in which the government has a role to play. In the road sector, it is the private players who rule the roost, and therefore, according to the Assam Government, there is scope for misappropriation. This was revealed by Assam Industry and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary at a press conference in Guwahati on Thursday in the wake of the Union Cabinet’s approval of NEIDS late on Wednesday.

“Earlier, there were allegations of misappropriation of funds under the transport subsidy. So the road sector has been dropped in the new policy, NEIDS. Now subsidy will be available only in the rail, waterways and air sectors where government plays a role. Road transport is mostly private, and there is scope for malpractices. We feel that the bad practice of the Congress’ time will now come to an end,” said Patowary.

The minister revealed that last year Assam had the privilege of attracting investment worth Rs 6,500 crore while employment generation was a 44,000-strong new workforce.

Pointing to the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, Patowary raised new hopes for it. “MSME sector will be given due importance in the new industrial policy. Here investment is less but there are more job opportunities. The Assam Government has in fact adopted a procurement policy to come to aid of the MSME sector. According to this, the government has to buy 25% from MSME. At the same time, in order to give relief to the sick and non-performing players in the MSME sector, we shall form a corpus fund that will assist them fincially,” he said.

The minister pointed out that during the previous government, all the Himalayan States – those from the Northeast, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh – were included in the industrial policy. “But the new industrial policy is meant only for the northeastern States, including Sikkim. Assam is going to be its main beneficiary. In fact this is one of the follow-ups of our Advantage Assam campaign,” he said, adding: “Credit goes to Prime Minister rendra Modi, and his commitment towards the Northeast is reflected in this policy. Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal has also been putting pressure on the Centre. Even otherwise, whenever we landed in Delhi, we always used to meet the ministries concerned for a new industrial policy for our region as a whole.”

Patowary also harped on the State government’s Advantage Assam campaign, saying the government is following up on the MoUs signed during the Global Investors’ Summit held in Guwahati in the first week of February. “We’re on a follow-up mode as far as Advantage Assam is concerned. We’ve already formed a cell called ‘Invest Assam’ for the purpose, and we’re going to involve a knowledge partner in this effort. The Industry Department is already there. So these three will jointly be following all developments. However, it will take some time for results to materialize as it’s a maiden initiative. But our focus will be on making Assam an expressway to ASEAN members. Apart from the new Central policy, the State will have its own industrial policy under which there will be additiol incentives for investors,” he said.

The broad policy components of NEIDS are: an investor can avail benefits up to Rs 200 crore in terms of exemption and subsidies under NEIDS per unit; any unit which is registered up to March 31, 2020 starting from April 1, 2017 will be eligible to avail these benefits; Rs 3,000 crore has been earmarked for the scheme period; and there will be reimbursement of 58 per cent income tax from the year of commencement of production.

Incentives include 20 per cent of the cost of transportation including the subsidy currently provided by railways for movement of finished goods by rail; 20 per cent of the cost of transportation of finished goods for movement through the Inland Waterways Authority of India; and 33 per cent of the cost of transportation of air freight on perishable goods from the airport nearest to the place of production to any airport within the country.

Central interest incentive includes 3 per cent on working capital credit advanced by eligible banks and fincial institutions for the first five years from the date of commencement of commercial production by the unit concerned.

As for the Central comprehensive insurance incentive, there will be reimbursement of 100 per cent insurance premium on insurance of building as well as plant and machinery for five years from the date of commencement of commercial production by the unit concerned.

Under the new policy, the government will pay 3.67 per cent of the employer’s contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in addition to the government bearing 8.33 per cent Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) contribution of the employer in the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yoja (PMRPY).