Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Thursday launched the state’s industrial policy for 2024-2030, which provides additional incentives to women, transgender people, Agnive pensioners and surrendered Naxalites to create startups.

Under the new policy, the state government will provide training allowance of ₹15,000 for each new employee hired by industries employing more than 1,000 local workers, provided the employee remains in service for at least 12 months.

The Chhattisgarh Industrial Development Policy 2024-30 aims to boost economic growth, generate employment and promote sustainable industrial development, Sai said at the launch program here in the evening.

“The new policy, which will come into effect from Thursday, focuses on job generation, skill development, export promotion, investment attraction and environmental protection,” he said.

“Until now, industrial policies have been developed taking into account economic, social and basic amenities. This is the first time we have set our goal to build a developed Chhattisgarh keeping in mind the Amrit Kaal of the country’s independence and the vision to build a developed India as per Vision-2047,” he said.

One of the key features of the policy is a focus on youth employment, with industries encouraged to hire local youth to help them directly benefit from the state’s industrial growth, he said.

The government will provide a training allowance of ₹15,000 for every new employee hired by industries employing more than 1,000 local workers, provided the employee remains employed for at least 12 months, he said.

“In addition, the policy covers 75% of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution for the first five years of employment, which aims to reduce the financial burden on employers while encouraging long-term retention of local talent. We are probably the first state to provide special subsidies and exemptions for young Agniveers and Naxal-affected families for setting up their own employment businesses,” said Sai.

“The policy encourages investment in tourism and health in the state. This will develop tourism as an industry in our state. An industrial area will be set up on 118 acres of land near Jagdalpur (headquarters of Bastar district). Land will be allotted to the industries there in the next 12 months,” the CM said.

Rules have been relaxed to encourage setting up of private industrial estates and the earlier criteria of “minimum 20 acres of land” has been reduced to “15 acres of land”, he said.

“We are committed to provide self-employment to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe youth. For this, we grant land in industrial zones to entrepreneurs in these categories only at the rate of ₹1 per acre,” he said.

Highlighting the features of the new policy, a government official said there are additional incentives for women entrepreneurs, members of the third sex, retired Agniveer soldiers, retired ex-servicemen (including those belonging to paramilitary personnel), entrepreneurs from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and surrendered Naxalites to create start-ups.

“The policy provides a subsidy of 40% of the salary for industries that employ people with disabilities. This subsidy, which will be available for up to five years, has a maximum limit of ₹5 lakh per employee annually. The policy introduces special benefits for women and youth interested in starting their own businesses. A corpus fund of ₹50 crore has been set up to help startups,” he added.

Besides, under the ‘Udyam Kranti Yojana’, the government will provide subsidized loans to help the youth become self-reliant by starting their own businesses, the official said.

“A noteworthy development in this policy is the segmentation of packages for SMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and large industries, with specific incentives tailored to each. In the services sector, various incentives will be provided to SMEs and large enterprises, especially in industries such as engineering, research and development, tourism and entertainment,” he said.

The policy targets high-potential sectors such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, agriculture and food processing, non-timber forest products, green hydrogen, electronics, AI, robotics, as well as solar energy, offering special incentives to attract investment.

“To promote exports from the state, a Foreign Trade Assistance Center will be set up at Raipur in collaboration with national level institutions like IIFT, Kolkata. Through this center, exporters will be helped in the selection of new products, they will receive assistance in the necessary formalities for export. “, the official said.

Another notable feature of the policy is its provision for industries involved in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and computing, he said.

“To support these cutting-edge sectors, the policy provides 100% refund of state GST for 12 years, or a grant of up to 50% of the investment in related projects, with a maximum grant limit of ₹450 crores. Investors will get financial assistance in the form of interest subsidies, capital subsidies, stamp duty exemptions, electricity duty exemptions and VAT refunds,” he said.