'Uttaranchal attracting big private investments'

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has taken rapid strides to promote industrial growth in Uttaranchal.

CII Uttaranchal State Council Chairman Naresh Khattar says the government should improve infrastructure in the state to ensure sustainable development of the industrial and tourism sectors, the key drivers of economic growth in the state.

What do you think will be the key growth drivers of Uttaranchal's economy?

Uttaranchal's inherent strengths lie in its natural beauty, wide variety of flora and fauna, water resources, diverse climatic zones, medicinal and aromatic plants, and a friendly and educated population. (So) I think tourism, agriculture and agri-business, hydropower and eco-friendly industries would be the key growth drivers of the state's economy.

How do you think the state has fared in terms of attracting new investments?

I think Uttaranchal has done exceedingly well. More than 350 companies have shown interest in the state, entailing an investment of Rs 8,000 crore.

These include companies like Hero Honda, Hindustan Lever, Britannia, Dabur, Parle, LG, Samsung, Asahi Glass, and Haldiram.

Do you think the infrastructure in Uttaranchal is geared up to support that kind of investment?

The investment would be phased over a period 1""2 years and in that time we need to ensure we prepare our infrastructure.

In fact, the only way to ensure sustainable development in both the industrial and tourism sectors is by developing infrastructure. The CII, along with the state government, had organised a roundtable conference on infrastructure development in Uttaranchal to address some of the issues.

Two of the suggestions that emerged at the meeting""that of setting up an Infrastructure Development Board and an Infrastructure Development Fund""have already been accepted by the government.

What is the CII doing on the agriculture front? We have been working towards making the various stakeholders aware of the immense possibilities in this field, and facilitating interaction amongst the stakeholders.

At the state level, we organised a two-day conference Agricon 2004 in association with the state government and GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, at the university campus, in January.

The objective was to identify key opportunities and challenges for the agriculture sector in Uttaranchal and promote corporate investment in this sector.

Recently, we organised an interaction with the minister of state for food processing industries, Subodh Kant Sahay, to address the problems faced by the food processing industry in Uttaranchal.

At the regional level, we are organising Agrotech 2004, the CII's flagship agro-technology expo at Chandigarh during December 3""6.

The states participating in this event can benefit immensely in terms of exposure to buyers and suppliers, new technologies and emerging opportunities in areas such as food retail, use of IT and biotechnology in agriculture, innovative means of agri financing, insurance and rural credit and sustainable contract farming models.

What are the other initiatives of the CII in Uttaranchal?

To expose the state to the international investor community, the CII with the support of the state government is organising an ambassadors' conference on business opportunities in Dehra Dun.

For the hydropower sector, we are looking at a hydropower conclave involving the three states of Uttaranchal, Himachal, and Jammu and Kashmir in Mussoorie sometime next month.

What is the CII doing to ensure sustainable development in the state?

Like in other states, we are a strong proponent of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. One of the contemporary issues that we are working on is the rational management of water through our rainwater harvesting project.

Under this project, we are looking at sensitising industry, institutes, and the people to the subject. We are also building capacity in terms of facilitating such projects on the ground. We already have one workshop involving various stakeholders and experts.

Earlier, in June, we organised a free heart checkup camp in association with the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi. The camp benefited more than 200 people in and around Dehra Dun.