Gujarat’s new industrial policy to have ‘ultra mega’ category

GANDHINAGAR: A new category of industry, defined as “ultra mega”, will feature in the new industrial policy that the Gujarat govt has readied and will unveil within the next fortnight.“An ultra mega industrial unit means an industrial undertaking in thrust sectors having an investment of at least Rs 10,000 crore and providing employment to at least 3,000 people,” the policy draft says.The govt has expanded the number of thrust sectors from the existing nine to 16 in the proposed policy.The draft says, “For every additional Rs 5,000 crore of investment, additional employment of 500 persons will be mandatory.”Until now, industries proposing an investment of over Rs 10,000 crore were categorised as “mega industries” and were offered customised benefits under the Atmanirbhar Gujarat scheme for industries.“The govt has now decided to coin the separate category of ‘ultra mega’ industries in the policy itself, defining the proposed investment, employment guarantees, and incentives,” said a top source in the govt.The new entrants to the “thrust sectors” bracket include ancillary units to semiconductor industries, nuclear power equipment units, vehicle scrapping facilities, electronic waste recycling industries, textile waste recycling units, shipping container manufacturing, and heavy earth moving equipment manufacturing units.The already existing thrust sectors are green energy ecosystem, mobility, capital equipment (electrical machinery, industrial machinery and telecom machinery), critical mineral processing, textiles and apparel, sustainability, agro and food processing, chemicals and healthcare.“The govt has also selected robot manufacturing and drone manufacturing as thrust sectors,” said an official.A source familiar with developments said, “Industries that will be granted approval under the ‘ultra mega’ category will get up to 40% incentives on capital investment that they make.”The source added, “Such industries will have the flexible option of choosing incentives in the form of capital subsidy, interest subsidy, and power tariff.”