DAINIK NATION BUREAU
Uttarakhand Finance Minister Prakash Pant speaking at the MSME session of the second day of the ‘Uttarakhand Investors Summit’ on Monday welcomed the investors and said that MSME sector is important for Uttarakhand. He encouraged the investors to invest in the state. There are favorable condition for industry in the state having trained manpower, cheap power and better law and order situation. Such better atmosphere for industry will not be found in any state of the country. “The state government has trained 13800 youth under skill development and there is target to train 1,00,000 youth this year giving them skill training. The aim to encourage investment in MSME is to create more opportunities for employment,” he said.
Mr. Prakash Pant said that investment in MSME will create direct and indirect employment opportunities and there are enough possibilities of investment in different sectors. The industrialists are being given all the facilities through single window system so that they do not feel any problem in setting up their industry. The ten policies have been framed keeping in mind the suggestions given by different entrepreneurs and business bodies during the various road shows held for Investors summit. There are favorable provision made in these policies for investment and medium and small businesses are given many facilities. The smaller traders have been taken care off in GST.
The entrepreneurs having annual turnover of less than Rs. 20 lakh have been given concession in GST. He said that besides MSME there are big and small industry in the state. He said that there are three categories in which investors can invest. He said that if the entrepreneur wants to set up their unit in Pithoragarh, Champwat, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and areas near Himalayas, then they will get exemption in stamp duty on land purchase.
Pant said that there are better rail, road and air services in the state. He further said that 800 kilometers of roads are built every year in the state and road connectivity even in the remote areas is better. The villages having a population of 250 are being linked with roads. The work on Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line is going on. The work on all Weather road is also going on speedily and after the completion of the project, road connectivity will be even better leading to better transportation and facilities.
Road connectivity is better and Uttarakhand is linked with all bigger cities of the country. The air services are also good and air services are being operated for major cities of the country from Jollygrant airport. The air service between Dehradun and Pantnagar has also started. Under ‘UDAAN’ project, air service between Dehradun to Naini-Saini airport at Pithoragarh has been started today. Different MOUs in MSME sector were signed on the occasion.
Rammohan Mishra, Additional Secretary, Government of India, Principal Secretary Industry Manisha Panwar, Director General/Commissioner Saujanya, representatives of industries, subject specialists, bankers and other dignitaries also expressed their views during the session.