With elections round the corner, the government is mulling allocation of incentives to India Inc for setting up manufacturing units in far-flung areas having thick SC/ST population. These incentives include income-tax benefits, excise duty waiver, sales levy and tax holiday scheme.
The indications to the same came from top policy makers at a recent meeting held under the chairmanship of Ajay Shankar, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) with the representatives of Indian Inc.
The coordination committee plans to recommend to the finance minister a host of incentives and tax-waiver schemes to encourage the investment industries to set up their units in SC and ST-dominated areas. Some of these areas are Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orrisa, West Bengal, Madhya-Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, northeast. To ensure that aspirations of SC and ST youth are fulfilled by the private sector, a coordination committee on affirmative action (AA) on SC and ST in the private sector was constituted by the Prime Minister?s office in October 2006.
It was decided in the previous meeting of the coordination committee that DIPP might set up a group of officers to study the issue and recommendation necessary action to the government.
The group will deliberate and recommend a scheme for giving fiscal incentives to industries for setting up manufacturing units in the identified backward districts with large SC/ST population. A group of officers was constituted comprising members like Ajay Shankar, secretary Planning Commission, Subash Pani, V Krishnamurthy, NMCC, DS Rawat, secretary general Assocham, Amit Mitra, secretary general Ficci, Chandrajit Banerjee, director general CII.