Ranchi, July 27: Jharkhand industry department held a stakeholders’ meet on the draft Jharkhand Ethanol Production and Promotion Policy 2021 at a Ranchi hotel wherein private investors were informed about attractive subsidies for setting up units in the state.
.The investors were informed about land bank available for allotment and the state government plan to promote ethanol production in the state to boost alternative sources of energy in the field of biofuels.
Pooja Singhal, secretary, department of Industries started her address by talking about the policy roadmap of the department wherein seven policies will be presented for approval within the next 2 months.
She then talked about the advantages of investing in Jharkhand including the locational advantage, ease of doing business, land bank available for allotment and the upcoming industrial parks and Special Economic Zone’s (SEZ’s) projects. The secretary gave an idea of the feed stock that can be used for Ethanol production and stated that Jharkhand can easily sustain a minimum of 600 KL/ day of production for the captive market available in Eastern India.
The policy proposes a highly remunerative incentive structure including capital subsidy at 25 per cent of investment made in fixed capital up to Rs 10 Cr for MSMEs and Rs 50 Cr for non-MSMEs, one-time Skill Development Subsidy at Rs 13,000 per employee for the training of employees who are domicile of Jharkhand and Employment Cost Subsidy (50% reimbursement for male workers and 100% reimbursement for female workers) of expenditure on account of contribution toward ESI and EPF scheme for a period of 5 years for new units for those employees who are domicile of Jharkhand up to Rs. 1000 per month. She concluded by urging the investors to give their views and suggestions on the policy.
In his welcome note, Mr Jitender Kumar Singh, director Industries gave a brief overview of the uses of Ethanol and the overall production figures from India. He also highlighted the benefits of Ethanol blending and gave examples from across the world including that of Brazil and the USA wherein Brazil has a molasses-based blending program and the USA has a starch-based blending program. Mr Singh then proceeded to give Jharkhand’s production of Sugarcane, Rice and Maize and talked about the schemes launched by the Government of India for Ethanol production.
Dr Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Excise and Prohibition concluded by assuring the investors that any applications for Letter of Intent (LoI) will be addressed by the Department of Excise and Prohibition within a fortnight.
The open Q&A session was well received by the investors and included over six sessions. The investors lauded the incentive structures and gave their suggestions.
Before concluding the event, 08 focused B2G sessions were conducted with a select group of large investors to increase the pace of industrialization in the state.
Other officials at the event included regional director JIADA Ajay Kumar Singh, Dr Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Excise, and Prohibition. The event was attended by over 50 investors, representatives of various trade bodies, including Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
