Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked for earmarking zones for startups and micro, small and medium industries in the new smart industrial cities that are coming up along the industrial corridors across the country.
“The land in the zones should be offered to MSMEs and startups at subsidized rates and zones equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure. They should also be offered technological support,” he said at a review meeting of NICDC-led industrial nodes in Andhra Pradesh under various industrial corridors.
National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) is developing 12 industrial smart cities across 10 states spread over 26,000 acres at a total cost of Rs 28,602 crore.
Goyal also directed officials to focus on attracting anchor investors and startups by building innovation-friendly ecosystems within each industrial node. He stressed the need to establish dedicated incubators to nurture early-stage enterprises and facilitate a robust startup ecosystem, a commerce ministry statement said.
He also advocated for organizing country-specific investment conclaves to attract targeted foreign investments. The minister during his interactions with foreign investors has offered them space in these cities.
The industrial cities under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme will have the investment potential of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and will create 10 lakh direct jobs and 30 lakh indirect jobs.
These cities will come up at Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Amritsar–Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), Chennai–Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), and Bengaluru–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (BMIC).
Andhra Pradesh is the only state in the country to host industrial nodes under three separate Industrial Corridors – Krishnapatnam node (2006 acres), Orvakal node (2621 acres) and Kopparthy node (2596 acres).
Krishnapatnam Industrial Area is under the Chennai–Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), Orvakal Industrial Area under the Hyderabad–Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC), and Kopparthy Industrial Area under the Visakhapatnam–Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC).
Source from: https://www.financialexpress.com/business/sme-govt-for-dedicated-zones-in-industrial-cities-for-msmes-3883344/
