May 7, 2020
The Assam government is open to companies who want to move out of China
After the Centre and State government announced some relaxations for the extended lockdown, some industries in Assam along with tea gardens that were locked down for more than a period of a month have started resuming operations.
Assam industries minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that 820 industries employing 28,000 workers and 783 big tea gardens and 1.18 lakh small tea gardens have started functioning in the state as soon as the lockdown was lifted.
“Over 800 tea factories are functioning and 10.33 lakh persons engaged in tea gardens and factories have started work. Monitoring is being done to ensure compliance of Covid-19 guidelines,” he said.
Assam holds the biggest tea industry in the country. The sector was severely hurt as it was just the start of plucking season and Covid-19 coincided at the same time.
Assam had harvested 715.49 million kg of tea in 2019 that was 51.51% contributing more than just the half of total production in India. Blaming on the lockdown, the production figure is expected to go down by 32 million kg that indicates the losses of more than Rs. 500 crore.
Tea auction has already restarted and warehouses resumed their operations just as the relaxation of lockdown norms eased.
Patowary said that the state government has engaged the services of Ernst & Young (E&Y) to study the impact of the lockdown on the industrial sector in Assam and suggest a policy framework to attract industries planning to move out of China.
“There are speculations that many American, Japanese, Korean companies are contemplating shifting production facilities from China to India. To woo these companies, the Assam government has taken up the matter with Centre and Japanese and US trade and business organizations to try and attract some of them to Assam. The state has strategic location advantage, vast natural resources, robust industrial infrastructure and reliable connectivity,” said Patowary.
The industries and commerce department of Assam is also in touch with the department of for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) of Government of India and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) for setting up a Japanese industrial hub in Assam to attract investment from Japanese companies.
The minister also informed that all government departments have been asked to extend the validity of trade licenses, permits, and clearances to industries, shops and business establishments from March 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020.