Friday, June 13, 2014: In a bid to boost the development of Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in Odisha, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) has given in-principle approval for setting up of an Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) at the proposed Info Valley at the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. DEITY has approved grant worth Rs 969.6 million for the greenfield project to be developed over 215.76 acres of land under the EMC scheme. In addition, DEITY has also given a go-ahead to two EMCs at Bhopal and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
The EMC scheme helps in the flow of investment for the development of world-class infrastructure specifically targeted towards attracting investment in the ESDM sector. The scheme supports setting up of both Greenfield and Brownfield EMCs. The assistance would be provided to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a legal entity duly registered for this purpose. The SPV may be promoted by private companies, industry associations, financial institutions, R&D institutions, State or Local governments or their agencies and units within the EMC.
The financial assistance to the SPV will come in the form of grant-in-aid only. For Greenfield EMCs the assistance will be restricted to 50 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 500 million for every 100 acres of land, while for Brownfield EMCs the same will be restricted to 75 per cent of the project cost subject to the same ceiling.
Meanwhile, DEITY is also planning to rope in consultants, who can help in preparing a sound strategy for the growth of the ESDM sector in India. The Indian ESDM industry is estimated to touch $400 billion turnover by 2020.
