GUWAHATI, June 13 (UNI): Policies and tax concessions, meant to aid the entrepreneurs in the north-eastern region, are instead helping investors from mainland India rake in a cool profit before calling it a day, foreign trade Joint Director General MK Mero said.
The North-east centric policies, conceived and implemented to gain a foothold in the national and the international markets, are instead helping investors from outside the region than the target group, Mero said.
Under the North-East Industrial Policy (NEIP), investors in the region enjoy an income tax holiday for ten years and a number of tax and excise concessions.
The concessions were framed with the hope that the entry of investors in the area would generate not only employment for the local youths but also help local farmers and producers get a good price for their products.
Talking to UNI, Mero said: "What is actually happening, however, is that though investors from the mainland are setting up their companies or units here, they are importing everything from raw materials to human resources from the outside the region."
"Then again, after raking in tax-free profit for ten years, they just wind up their business and leave," he said.
"These are again not resource-based industries, but mostly extensions of what the mother companies specialize in," he said, adding, "We have lots of bamboo in the North-east, we should be investing in paper mills and fruit processing units too. We have to identify the thrust areas such as cane and bamboo development, fruit processing units, tourism, etc. But these are not happening."
"We have to look for investors of the right kind and allow them only to invest," Mero said.
Talking of other structural problems that were hindering the North-east trade, Mero said: "We spend to the tune of Rs 8 lakh just organizing and installing the structure and the stalls for trade exhibitions here. The stalls are given to the farmers and traders for Rs 10,000 each which is quite a lot of money... But after ten days, the exhibition packs up and the structure demolished."
"The solution," he feels, "is setting up a permanent trade exhibition centre, for the North-east, on the lines of the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, with certain facilities like data of main producers, and tie-ups with buyers from abroad, to help the producers."