Industrial corridors will change North India: Kant

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The planned industrial corridors, including the $100-billion Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project, will be the game changer for North India, secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Amitabh Kant said Thursday.

"Northern India has the youngest population in the world with great enterprising spirit that could lead to transformation of the region with emphasis on labour intensive manufacturing, planned urbanisation and quality infrastructure," Kant said.

Addressing the 3rd edition of CII Invest North conference here, Kant said interlinking of the DMIC with the Amritsar Kolkata Corridor at Dadri would lead to a revolutionary shift in the world of logistics. He said North India has all the potential to leverage this opportunity.

"Despite the challenges of being a landlocked region, people from north have demonstrated exemplary entrepreneurship traits and have successfully overcome these inherent challenges," Kant said.

He also spelt out the roadmap of how North can drive the growth of India. This would include the "Emerging opportunities in the defence sector after allowing 49 percent FDI through automatic route and de-licensing manufacturing of about 60 percent of defence items".

Kant said North India has the potential to emerge as a hub for value added manufacturing in defence sector.

He said the government is taking lot of initiatives towards ease of doing business.

Kant called for cooperation from the state governments. "DIPP would work in close association with the state governments to spur investments and growth," he said.

Speaking at the event, Prem Narain, secretary, Overseas Indian Affairs ministry, emphasised the role of states in creating enabling policies and models to attract investments and growth.

The northern region is vested with everything that is required to overcome the challenges of being land-locked, lack of mineral resources, perception of governance issues, said Richard Rekhy, co-chairman, Invest North 2014 and chief executive officer of KPMG India.

Rekhy emphasised on strengths such as strong agrarian economy base, abundant water resources, young population, industrial and freight corridors and opportunities of bilateral trade with neighbouring countries, that make North India an ideal investment destination.

Elaborating the importance of the event, Jayant Davar, co-chairman, Invest North 2014 and managing director of Sandhar Technologies said the two day conclave would provide an ideal platform for both investors and state governments to understand and showcase the investment potential available in the region.

The programme featured participation by governments of Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and over 300 investors.