Himachal woos investors with fast approvals, ease of biz

Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today assured investors of expeditious clearances to project proposals and measures to ensure 'ease of business' as part of the state's efforts to attract investment.
Interacting with investors at 'Emerging Himachal, Investors Meet', organised jointly by the state and industry body CII here, the Chief Minister called upon entrepreneurs to set up non-polluting, environmental friendly and ecologically sustainable units in the state.
He said that a host of measures have been initiated across various line of departments to ensure "Ease of Doing Business" and provide online delivery of services in a time bound manner.
"The objective is to put in place one of the most efficient and hassle-free system of approvals in keeping with the expectations of entrepreneurs," he said.

"We seek to achieve this at one level by reinforcing the capability of government institutions to provide basic public services and give increasing role to the market in the performance of various functions, traditionally handled by the government," he said.
The Chief Minister said that comparative strength of the state was its hydel potential, climate and natural beauty and the state was now looking forwards to larger investment in tourism, technologically advanced agriculture and horticulture, IT and Biotechnology and electronics.

He said that besides developing new townships, the state also envisaged augmentation of civic amenities in existing cities and ensured that the transfer of land for industry would be simple and time bound and all industrial projects would be cleared within 45 days.

About 1400 investors participated in the meet and Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri also explained the reasons and incentives that made Himachal a preferred destination for entrepreneurs.
The state government has attracted investment proposals worth Rs 10,000 crore from leading companies including Walmart, Tata Group and Microtek International during the two-day meet that ended today.
Proposals for setting up industrial units to manufacture products in Himachal Pradesh were discussed and the meet saw a participation of about 1,400 investors. Proposals belonging to sectors like retail, housing, defence, solar energy and healthcare also came up.