The Assam government will offer additional subsidies to the tune of 60 per cent over incentives approved by the Central Government to eligible applicants of the recently announced Rs 23,000 crore electronics components manufacturing scheme, the state’s Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma told The Indian Express.
The “top-up” incentives by the state are a way to attract the electronics manufacturing industry in the state, where a semiconductor assembly and testing plant of the Tata Group is already under construction.
“On May 10, Assam announced a scheme for electronics component manufacturing… Whatever will be the eligible amount that successful companies get from the government of India, we will top that up by another 60 per cent. So, if the Central Government has approved an incentive of Rs 100 for a company, the Assam government will give an additional Rs 60,” Sarma told this paper during an interaction.
In March, the Union Cabinet had cleared a Rs 22,919 crore incentive scheme for manufacturing electronic components, spread over a period of six years. The scheme aims to deepen India’s presence in global value chains, while increasing domestic value addition in the country.
Beyond direct monetary subsidies, the Assam government will also offer companies free land in the upcoming Ratan Tata electronic city, an industrial complex the state is aiming to build in Jagiroad. Sarma said that they are currently negotiating a loan from the Asian Development Bank to develop the area.
“We will also give eligible companies free land in the Ratan Tata Electronics City. Because of Tata’s upcoming semiconductor plant in the state, a lot of the supplier-side industry will be co-located there. Those suppliers can also supply to electronics components manufacturers… Whatever taxation burden we have, as far as the Assam government is concerned, we’ll address that also. And finally, companies would need certain social infrastructure too, and we’ll provide that as well,” Sarma said.
Asked whether internal and external security challenges in the North-East region could discourage industries from being set up in Assam, Sarma said,
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“You have states like Gujarat, which are very near to Pakistan, and yet the industry is thriving there. People believe that India is capable of protecting its citizens and industries from any kind of external challenges… I think external challenges don’t count, because as a nation, we are capable of answering any external threats… Internally, if you notice the progress in Assam in the last five years…we are one of the most peaceful states today. People are setting up industries, and doing business,” Sarma said.
The state government also wants to encourage Assamese talent in the state and elsewhere to join its electronics industry. “We have a very good human resource base because we have an IIT in Guwahati, an IIIT in Guwahati, a good network of engineering colleges, and the Government of India has also declared the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) a deemed university,” Sarma said.
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