Guj govt announces setting of 16 more industrial estates, jobs to over 100,000

The BJP-led government in poll-bound Gujarat on Wednesday announced setting up of 16 new industrial clusters by way of GIDC estates across the state to what it called encourage investments in the small business to generate over 100,000 employment opportunities.

“These GIDCs will unlock the growth in remote areas and SMEs. Spread across 2400 hectares in 16 villages, they will have potential to accommodate over 15,000 factories and total estimated employment generation would be about 100,000,” Vijay Rupani, Gujarat chief minister told media persons.

GIDC or Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation has been setting up several industrial estates across the state for over three decades now. It primarily acquires land and provides all the requisite basic infrastructure as roads, water, street lights, plotting etc for entrepreneurs to set up their factories.

The BJP government in Gujarat have been making a slew of announcements for some time with an eye on Assembly polls that EC on Tuesday said would be held in December this year. On Tuesday, it had announced a reduction in a VAT on petrol and diesel by 4%, bringing down the cost of auto fuel up to Rs 2.67 per litre.

Other than setting up of industrial estates, the chief minister also announced new Garments & Apparel Policy 2017. "The state has an advantage of being the largest cotton producer. So far, we supplied cotton to other states, this is the time we want to encourage our entrepreneurs to invest in garmenting," Rupani said.

Under the policy, the state government would provide for wage subsidy varying from Rs 4000 for women workers and Rs 3500 for male workers employed in the garmenting units.