Stepping up its efforts to attract investors, the Arunachal Pradesh government has identified at least eight sectors having the potential for investment in the industrially backward state.
In a meeting organised by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India on Friday, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Secretary, Naresh Kumar said the communication infrastructure including rail, road and air connectivity in the frontier state improved significantly and now the state was in a "take-off stage" to receive investments in the industrial sector.
The meeting was organised by the DPIIT following a letter by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently seeking the department's help to attract investment.
The meeting highlighted that agro-forest and food processing, tourism, power and renewable energy, textiles and handlooms, pharmaceuticals, polymer-based industries and natural resource-based industries were some of the sectors having potential for investment. The state government assured to provide all facilitation to the prospective investors.
The chief secretary said being an organic state, investment in the food processing sector such as mini-food park and cold chains would be of immense value. He also appealed that the central public sector undertakings to come forward as anchor investors in the areas including hydropower.
Deepak Bagla, CEO of Invest India, officials from 13 central ministries and state government officials, among others attended the meeting.
Prashant Lokhande, commissioner(Planning and Investment) gave a detailed presentation on investment opportunities in Arunachal Pradesh highlighting key strengths such as peaceful environment, abundant natural resources including freshwater, availability of land, its strategic location as the gateway to ASEAN countries, improved connectivity in the foot-hills, availability of Hindi and English speaking young population with sound technical background, incentives provided by state and central government beside others.
Deepak Bagla, CEO of Invest India welcomed the initiative and assured support of Invest India in channelizing investments to Arunachal Pradesh. He informed that Invest India would have a special cell for Arunachal Pradesh for promoting investment and there will be a dedicated investment website for the Northeast region.