Tripura: Industrial policy to attract investment

Agartala, Jul 23: Tripura government is going to announce new industrial policy for the state to attract investors from outside, said state Industry Minister Tapan Chakraborty here today.

Mr Chakraborty said a number of companies from outside the state had expressed their willingness to set up gas and agro-based small and medium scale industries in the state with the abundance of the resources.

''We have already drafted the policy keeping eyes on industrial development of the state and to promote a sustainable economy in northeast region and it will be forwarded to the state cabinet for approval,'' Mr Chakraborty said.

He, however, stated that the government did not have any problem of allotting land and providing gas and agricultural raw materials for setting up industries in the state but a comprehensive policy is required for the purpose.

Tripura government had long been contemplating on using Chittagong and Ashujang port of Bangladesh for facilitating Northeastern states as well as Southeast Asian nations for economic development because NE had a market of 38.5 million people with a purchasing power of 3.5 per cent of India.

The low domestic production of the region, which is approximately US.17 billion, reflects their dependence on the other states of India or other countries for consumer goods, Commerce department officials here revealed.

Further, the consumers in Northeast India are sensitive to high prices because of their lifestyle and buying capacity and the industrial base in Bangladesh offers high quality reasonably priced consumer products and can cater to the needs of the people of the region.

They added, Northeast India enjoys the lowest sales tax in India and a number of goods exported to and imported from India enjoy duty concessions under South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA).

The Indian government had recently announced duty concession on 90 items imported from Bangladesh.

UNI