Holding of the mega Global Investors’ Summit, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year and attended by top industrialists from across the country, has not improved the investment scenario in Assam as yet and in fact, the investment intentions filed by investors to the Central Government have come down compared to the last couple of years.
A report published in the The Assam Tribune stated that the investors, who want to invest more than Rs 10 crore in plant and machinery, have to submit investment intentions with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, and according to records available with the DIPP, the scenario in Assam and other states of the North East is “dismal” compared to other States of the country.
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The report further stated that according to records, the investment intentions filed for setting up industries in Assam have been coming down gradually in the last three years and it is now negligible compared to the proposals received by the advanced States of the country.
As per records available, altogether 55 investment intentions were filed for Assam with a proposed investment of Rs 3,664 crore in the year 2016, which was just 0.89 per cent of the proposed investments in the entire country. In 2017, altogether 39 investment intentions for Assam were filed with a proposed investment of Rs 1,437 crore, which was 0.36 per cent of the total proposals received for the country. Though it was expected that after holding the mega Global Investors’ Summit, which was preceded by road shows organised by the Assam Government in different parts of the country, the flow of investment to the State would improve considerably, so far, the scenario has not improved.
The DIPP records reveal that during the period from January to August this year, only nine investment intentions for Assam were filed with a proposed investment of Rs 239 crore, which is only 0.08 per cent of the investments proposals filed for the entire country.
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The situation in the other northeastern States is even worse as no investment intentions were filed in the DIPP for setting up industries in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram in the last three years, while the scenario is slightly better in Sikkim and Meghalaya.
According to the records, during the period from January to August this year, investment intentions with a proposed investment of more than three lakh crore rupees were filed for the entire country and Karnataka topped the list with a proposed investment of Rs 79,866 crore. Some other advanced States of the country also received substantial number of investment proposals. Proposals for investment of more than Rs 51,500 crore were filed for Gujarat, while it was Rs 33,265 for Maharashtra.