Haryana to receive over $50 bln investment over next decade

Gurgaon, Jan 16 (UNI) Haryana government today said it expects 50 billion dollars worth of investment over the next 10 years, which will generate employment opportunities for over one million people.

''With just 1.37 per cent of the country's geographical area and 1.97 per cent of the total population, Haryana today has achieved the distinction of having the highest per capita income in the country,'' Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said at the Partnership Summit 2008.

According to a report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Haryana ranks high with per capita investment at Rs 78,500, up from the fourteenth rank about three years ago.

Haryana is an ideal investment destination with a growth rate of 10 per cent last year and the target for the 11th financial plan has been kept at 11 per cent, he added.

Also buoyed by the success of the previous years, the proposed plan has an outlay of Rs 6,400 crore for the financial year 2008-09 as compared to Rs 5,300 crore last year, Mr Hooda said.

''We would like to add 2-3 more Gurgaons in the vicinity of Delhi to give further thrust to the infrastructure,'' he said.

Talking about the specific sectors, Mr Hooda talked of increased budgetary allocation in education by 90 per cent, launching the largest satellite-based education network in the country, initiatives in the health sector like referral systems, telemedicine networks and encouraging institutional delivery through promotion of Delivery Huts, diversification of crops, legal institutional farming arrangements for contract farming, investment in terminal markets, flower market and other niche products to promote agriculture.

Formulation of industry-friendly labour policy, galvanizing various NCR areas like Faridabad, Kundli, Sonepat and Bahadurgarh to link through Metro will provide further impetus to the growth of the state.

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