India's Reliance Industries will build a multi-billion dollar special economic zone to attract companies by providing stable power and other services severely lacking in the country, officials said yesterday.
The zone located in the northern farm state of Haryana is estimated to cost as much as 400 billion rupees (US$8.76 billion) over the next decade, making it one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.
Reliance, India's largest private company with its core business in oil refining and petrochemicals, will invest 250 billion rupees in the project with the rest of the money coming from private companies building their own facilities in the zone, he said.
"Most of the foreign investors that have looked at India have complained about the basic infrastructure. That's what we're trying to address to make sure infrastructure is available for them," a Reliance spokesman said.
The spokesman said there had already been "feelers" from foreign companies about investing in the economic zone, which could include agriculture, textiles, gem and jewelry manufacturers.
India's economy grew 8.4 percent in the fiscal year ended March, the second fastest behind China among the world's top 20 economies, but the country faces hurdles to more investment because of erratic power supplies, poor roads and other basic infrastructure.
The global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has estimated that India needs more than US$250 billion in infrastructure investment in the next decade to ensure basic services to its 1.1 billion people.
The site will cover 10,000 hectares of land and is aimed at encouraging a knock-on effect to upgrade local infrastructure including an airport, housing and shopping malls, the state government said.
"It will be [on] par with Special Economic Zones [SEZ] in China, Malaysia or Singapore," a government spokesman told reporters in the state capital of Chandigarh, adding that it will attract overseas capital by offering tax holidays and other such benefits.
India launched its Chinese-style economic zone policy in 2000 to create a "hassle-free" environment for exports, the trade ministry says on its Web site, adding that more than 100 proposals are under consideration. The state government estimated the SEZ could add 500,000 jobs in the next decade.
India lags rival China in luring foreign investment, getting about one-tenth of the estimated US$50 billion China receives, although the country has been a hot destination for foreign funds in the stock market and for services such as software and call centers.
To attract building projects, the Congress-led coalition government pushed the special zones idea hard since taking power in May 2004 and seven are now running, including one by India's third largest software exporter, Wipro, and truck and car maker, Mahindra & Mahindra.
Indian Trade Minister Kamla Nath said in February that the country hoped to attract one trillion rupees of investment in the special economic zones over the next three years by providing single point clearance for firms keen to build up information technology, textile and pharmaceutical operations.
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