Friday, November 14, 2014: Being influenced by the new government’s Make In India initiative, the Gujarat government has introduced a new policy by which it inspires to emerge as globally recognised hub for the Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) industry by 2020. Gujarat CM, Anandi Patel had announced the Electronics Policy (2014-2019) marking a range of incentives for the new entrants as well as existing players.
Going further with the benefits of the new policy, Finance Minister Saurabh Patel stated that it aims at providing employment opportunities for 0.5 million people with an investment of USD 6 billion and an estimated turnover of USD 16 billion by 2020. Patil said, “It is estimated that within next 6 years, India’s import of electronics goods will surpass the petroleum products. Keeping that in mind, we have formulated this policy to attract investment in ESDM sector here, for which, we will give several incentives to manufacturers.”
He further added, “To realise our PM’s vision of Make In India, we have formulated this policy to encourage hardware manufacturing, including semi-conductor fabrication, through various incentives and packages. We want to motivate world’s leading electronics giants to set up their plants here.”
Key features of policy are :
• 100 per cent exemption in stamp duty and registration fee on first time land purchase/ lease by ESDM units
• 100 per cent refund in Central Service Tax (CST)
• refund up to 90% on VAT on investment made by new/ existing units
• assistance up to 25 per cent of the project cost to greenfield Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs), among rest
• loan interest subsidy ranging from 2-7 per cent
• power tariff subsidy of Re 1 per unit till 5 years
• 100 per cent exemption on electricity duty for five years to eligible units
The government has also planned to set-up a ‘Single Window Clearance Committee’ for granting quick approvals and clearances for establishing new units, with 24X7 help desk assistance.
The government has also announced about setting up a separate body of Gujarat Electronics Mission (GEM), which will undertake tasks like identifying and looking after formation of EMCs and attracting top firms of ESDM sector for investing here.
