The Hindu Business Line : Panel moots ‘growth poles’ to develop unorganised sector

New Delhi, Aug. 12 Now here is a new type of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) model proposed for the development of the unorganised sector. The new classification is growth poles. The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), in its report presented to the Prime Minister, has recommended that Growth Poles be developed with all the economic incentives given to SEZs for development of unorganised sector enterprises.

It has also said that growth poles should be promoted through the public private partnership (PPP) model.

Facilitating growth

The commission wants 25 such growth poles to be developed in 25 States during the Eleventh Plan period in order to facilitate the growth of infant enterprises in the unorganised sector.

According to the definition “unorganised sector enterprises consists of all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or households engaged in sale and production of goods and services operated on a proprietary or partnership basis and with less than 10 employees.”

Dr Ravi Srivastava, member of the commission, told Business Line, that the total investment for 25 such growth poles was estimated to be Rs 500 crore. “Under the PPP model, around Rs 200 crore should be public investment and R s 300 crore would be private investment,” he said.

Focused development

The commission has proposed that a special purpose vehicle with a Rs 500-crore corpus be formed for developing these growth poles. To ensure focused development of these units, the commission felt that the stakeholders for each growth pole should originate from a vast geographic spread and not be restricted to the area where it would be located.

The commission’s recommendation is based on its detailed project reports prepared for Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Assam.

The idea of growth poles is rooted in the ongoing Government efforts to develop industrial clusters. Growth poles should be cluster of clusters, Dr Srivastava said.

This would be a second stage of cluster development involving upscaling of the existing development efforts through provision of common infrastructure, service centres etc. The move was aimed at strengthening natural clustering of industrial units to achieve economies of scale in skill upgradation, technology development, marketing and other necessary activities, he said.

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