KL Report
SRINAGAR
An apex industry body The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) Tuesday in a statement said that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has recorded second highest rate of investment implementation amid industrialized states across India as of March 2013 with over 81 per cent of total investment projects under implementation.
“Though, J&K has attracted investments worth just over Rs 1.22 lakh crore from various public and private sources as of March 2013, investment projects worth over Rs one lakh crore are under implementation in the state while rest of the projects with about 19 per cent investments remained a non-starter,” the statement reads quoting an investment analysis conducted by ASSOCHAM.
“Though, the private investments in the state grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 56 per cent during the decadal period of March 2003-March 2013, the private sector share was just 22.5 per cent of the total investments attracted by J&K, which is worrisome as such the state should provide more sops, tax concessions and other such subsidies to lure private investors in large numbers,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, national secretary general of ASSOCHAM while releasing the chamber’s analysis.
“While the per-capita investment in J&K grew at a CAGR of about 20 per cent during the last decade i.e. from over Rs 16,200 in March 2003 to over Rs 97,950 as of March 2013,” said Mr Rawat.
However, it says, in J&K, while over 18 per cent investments were in the announcement stage as of March 2013, there is no information of the remaining projects and there is no project that has been stalled highlighted the ASSOCHAM analysis.
“The prevailing unstable external and internal economic conditions, high inflation, credit availability and its cost along with a host of local problems like delays owing to land acquisition have been affecting the investment scenario in India,” said Mr Rawat. “Only states that try to address genuine concerns of investors to possible extent see higher implementation rates.”
Inadequate addressal of project induced displacement, failure of implementation of Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) policies, environmental clearances, bureaucratic delays, lack of clear cut policies and others have been contributing to lower implementation rates of investment projects in India, further highlighted the ASSOCHAM analysis.
Gujarat has recorded lowest investment implementation rate as just about 46 per cent of the total investment projects in the Western state are under the stage of implementation while the rest remained non-starter as of March 2013.
