By EB Bureau
The Delhi government has announced that it plans to set up a knowledge based industries (KBI) park in Baprola, west Delhi, and a multi-level manufacturing/services hub in Ranikhera, north Delhi, which it hopes will attract investments worth Rs 700 billion by 2015, and generate employment opportunities for nearly 300,000 people.
This announcement was made at a workshop on ‘Opportunities in Electronic System Design and Manufacturing in NCT of Delhi’, organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recently.
For the KBI park at Baprola, the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) is developing 77 acres at the cost of Rs 12 billion. The project will cater to the specific needs of information technology, the ITES industry, research and development, etc.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has allocated land for the development work to start in the Baprola project while approval from the Delhi Development Authority is awaited. The project, with metro connectivity, is in tune with the industrial policy for 2010-2021 and will be operational by 2015, providing direct employment to 100,000 workers and indirect employment to another 170,000 people.
For the Ranikhera project, DSIIDC is setting up a large multi-level manufacturing hub for small and medium enterprises to expand their activities in non-polluting manufacturing activities. Construction on the Rs 31 billion project, which is to be spread over 150 acres will start within nine months. The Delhi government has also planned infrastructure development works to the tune of Rs 20 billion for the redevelopment of industrial clusters in non-conforming areas.
Although these initiatives will help Delhi become a manufacturing destination, adequate support from the government is required to ensure the smooth execution of these projects. Debashis Dutta, group coordinator, Ministry of Communications and IT, said the government should evolve a mechanism to overcome disability factors like the unavailability of land, lack of uninterrupted power and poor supply chains. “Delhi can emerge as a major hub for semiconductor wafer fabrication also as the country’s electronics market is expected to expand from US$ 65 billion to US$ 400 billion by 2020,” he added.
Anirudh Dhoot, chairman of ASSOCHAM’s electronics committee and director of Videocon Industries, called for a stable 10 year tax regime to attract global investments and to enable capacity building, apart from giving new ventures time to adopt best practices for e-waste management. He felt it would also help in implementing the government’s mandate to give preferential market access for domestically manufactured products.
Speaking on these developments, JV Ramamurthy, co-chairman of ASSOCHAM’s electronics committee and president of HCL Infosystems Ltd, said that the availability of a talented workforce and good transport facilities provide much headroom for the electronics and IT industries to grow.”
