MP push for automotive and agro-industry at Indore Investment Summit

The Madhya Pradesh government, sources say, hopes to give a fresh boost to the automotive sector at the ambitious investors’ meet being hosted at Indore on October 18.

Indore has already emerged as an automobile and engineering hub of Madhya Pradesh. The auto cluster in the city in Pithampur has over 120 large units and 450 small and medium units with a combined investment of $11.3 billion. Also, there is a Central Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute in Budhni which provides training and testing facilities for farm equipment mechanisation. Both of these facilities provide state of the art cutting edge technology for the development of the automobile sector.

New initiatives include setting up of a National Automotive Test Tracks (NATRAX) in Dhar district. It is a state of art technology ground for testing vehicle dynamics and automation. Strategically located in the neighbourhood of the investment region set up in Pithampur-Dhar and Mow region in phase 1 of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor, Natrax has 14 types of test tracks with a test track length of 11.3 kms. This will be utilised as a comprehensive test facility for various technical solutions such as development, certification and R&D for the automation and automotive industries sector. The primary aim of NATRAX will be providing testing and evaluation facilities ranging from smaller ones to the heavy commercial vehicles as per national and international standards.

Included at the initiative of Chief Minister Kamal Nath, the ‘Smart Industrial Park’ of Dhar district is emerging as one of the main attractions for investors who are looking for vast land resources and complementary services. The ‘Smart Industrial Park’ is a multi-product industrial area, housing several big factories, warehouses, plants, storage facilities, and distribution centres located 70 kilometres from Indore.

The closely situated satellite industrial towns of Pithampur and Dewas will give the area an edge to become one of the fastest-growing economic region in India, believe bureaucrats involved in the project. Round the clock availability of piped natural gas from GAIL and dedicated water supply system from Narmada river are being assured to the investors.

The food processing industry is another sector identified by MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath as a thrust area. Madhya Pradesh is the top producer of pulses, oil seeds, oranges, tomato, garlic, aromatic and medicinal plants in the country whereas in production of food grains, sesame, green peas, guava, green chillies and onions, it stands second in the country. With large orange and mango-growing areas, the MP government proposes to promote plants which can produce processed food products like juices, jams, squash, syrup, beauty products, perfumes, essential oils, pulp, dried mango powder, chutney, mango panna and starch for commercial use.

MP also enjoys abundant production of other fruits like banana, pomegranate, and vegetables like onion, tomato, potatoes, green peas, garlic, chillies and coriander. These provide ample scope for setting up different agro-based industries in the state to produce processed foods like chips, powder, frozen peas, pastes, pickles, sauces, spice-mix, seeds for breakfast preparation, starch, vinegar, ketchup, jellies, etc.

But first, MP needs to ensure that the quality of the state’s agri commodities is world-class. Secondly, it needs to make government approvals and clearances easier to attract private players to set up industries. The government must focus on creating ample number of cold storages and warehouses to preserve the raw material for a longer time.