No word on sops, investors hold back big-ticket projects

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 21

Almost 11 months after the state government announced its new industrial policy, investors are awaiting detailed schemes and operational guidelines for availing fiscal incentives promised therein. Till the time, investors are keeping their projects on hold.

Though the government came up with the first set of detailed schemes and guidelines in January, it got a “lukewarm” response from the industry. It led to another round of government-industry talks and the new schemes and guidelines prepared are now expected to be brought before the Cabinet in its meeting next week.

Once notified, the state government sees a ray of hope with several projects where MoUs (memoranda of understanding) have been signed finally taking off. Officers in the industry department say they have received investment proposals worth Rs 3,482.11 crore (Rs 2,427.67 crore in the first quarter of 2018-19; and Rs 1,054.44 crore in 2017-18) from some top multinational companies in the past year-and-a-half, but till the detailed guidelines are not issued, the investors are not starting the project.

RS Sachdeva, Chairman, PHD Chamber, told The Tribune that not just the investors are waiting to see the fine print of the policy to calibrate their investments, but even the PHD Chamber, as an industry body, is unable to project Punjab as an attractive investment destination.

“Any investment has huge financial implications. Our new policy offers almost 33 incentives, both fiscal and non-fiscal. Once the detailed guidelines are notified, which will hopefully be done by July 25, Punjab will see at least 15 mega projects, with investment worth almost Rs 3,500 crore, taking off,” said Rakesh Kumar Verma, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce.

He said the detailed guidelines had been prepared by taking industry in all major hubs — Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Mandi Gobindgarh -– on board. “The state government is not just offering incentives, but also looking at supporting the industry till the time the project gets commissioned. A step-by-step roadmap will be prepared for each project to ensure its sucessful completion and implementation,” he added.

Waiting in the wings

A total of 15 new projects entailing an investment of Rs 3,482.11 crore are awaiting details about the incentives the government will offer in its new policy. Some of these big-ticket investors are:

Varun Beverages (Pepsi) Rs 799.7 cr

HPCL Rs 684 cr

Betelgeuse Infra Rs 642 cr

IOL Chemical & Pharmaceuticals Rs 231.2 cr

Ludhiana Beverages (Coca Cola) Rs 220 cr

Infra push

Also on cards are industrial clusters along three industrial corridors — Amritsar-Kolkata, Chandigarh-Amritsar and Chandigarh-Hoshiarpur-Gurdaspur — besides 10 new industrial estates

Incentives on cards

• Partial or complete refund of State GST
• Power tariff at Rs 5/unit
• Exemption in stamp duty, electricity duty, EDC and property tax
• Higher FAR/exemption from provisions of PAPRA and relaxation in height of buildings
• Interest subsidy to MSMEs
• Support for technological upgrade and acquisition to MSMEs