Cottage and Small Scale Industries. in Himachal Pradesh
Industrialization in Himachal Pradesh is comparatively a recent phenomenon. The severe climatic conditions topographical and geographical severities throw challenges in the process of industrialization. In such a scenario, the benefits in the form of incentives and subsidies as well as the development of appropriate infrastructure become the main instruments to attract industrial investment in the State. Though industrialization in the State has not been able to gather momentum as compared to the neighbouring states like Punjab, Haryana, U.P. and Uttrakhand, yet with investment in infrastructural facilities, the state has been able to offset the locational and geographical disadvantages to considerable extent. The industrial sector in the state has entered the take off stage with a well diversified base of industries ranging from rural and traditional Handloom and Handicrafts, Cottage, Micro and SSI units to High-tech Textile, Telecommunication equipment, sophisticated Electronic units, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering, High Quality Precision Tools, Food Processing industries etc.
At the time of independence, Himachal Pradesh was predominantly an agrarian economy. Almost all other items of common use were imported. During the nineties, the growth rate remained more or less stable. The decade showed an average annual growth rate of 5.7 percent, which is at par with the national level. The pace of industrial development has picked up after the Grant of special package of incentive by Central govt. for setting up of Industries in the State which was notified on 07.01.2003 together with the package of incentives provided by the State Govt. in the industrial policy & incentive. This has resulted in high investment in both MSEs and Medium & Large Scale sector in the State.
district Kangra which accounted for 23.07% of the total units followed by district Solan and Mandi which accounted for 13.35% and 10.14% respectively of the total registered units. But the growths of registered industries in the state during the last three years have been recorded more in district Solan followed by district Sirmour and Una respectively. In the State least numbers of units have been registered in district Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti. In terms of investment, maximum amount of investment have been made in district Solan with 62.03% of the total investment followed by district Sirmour and Una with 17.90% and 7.31% of the total investment while in terms of employment also district Solan has became the largest employment provider district of the state with 31.05% of the total employment followed by district Kangra and Sirmour.
Maximum No of units registered with the state industries department after the special package of incentives were in the unclassified product group (others) followed by food processing industries and then mechanical engg., electrical, packaging, electronics, pharmaceuticals, plastic & chemicals, footwear & automobiles etc., while this trend have been changed after the change in the definition of industries under the MSMED Act. In terms of investment (as on 1.10.2006) maximum amount of investment was made in the product group of Chemical & Allied Products followed by mechanical and electrical & electronic products while this trend has also been changed after the enhancement of investment limit for micro, small & medium enterprises under the MSMED Act, as a result of which chemical and mechanical products which were earlier in the category of medium enterprises due to the large investment involved have came under the preview of small scale sector by occupying the first, second and third position. Further considerable numbers of chemical, mechanical and electrical & electronics industries have come up in the State after the implementation of industrial package given by the Central Government to the State.
To provide services and facilities to the existing and prospective entrepreneurs. District industries Centers (DIC’s) have been functioning in all districts of the state. Besides, 5 Single Window Clearance Agencies have been setup in industrial areas of Parwanoo, Baddi, Paonta Sahib, Kala Amb & Golthai which provide services and facilities required by the industries under the single roof. With a view to provide umbrella support to existing and new ventures, the state government has set up a State Level Single Window Clearance and Monitoring Authority (SLSWC&MA).
A large number of families are engaged in Village & Cottage industries in the State such as Khadi, Village Oil, leather products, FVPP, Gur Khandsari, Carpentry & black smithy, Lime, pottery, Fibre, Bee Keeping, P.C.P.I. Cottage Match, HMP, Cane and Bamboo, Katha Industry, Medicinal Herbs, Soap, Gums & Rosine, Aluminum, Service Industry, Textile Industry, Brass Copper, Rasin, PVC & Candle, Electronics &, Bio-tech etc.
Himachal Pradesh is now on its way to rapid industrialisation through co-ordinate and simultaneous development of micro, small, medium sector of industries. The State has registered remarkable progress in the development of MSME sector during the last few years.
Sericulture is emerging as one of the important cottage industry in the state. This is providing subsidiary employment to the farmers and also supplementing their income by way of rearing silkworms for production of silk cocoons. The Government of Himachal Pradesh has given high priority to the development of sericulture industry because it has a great potential to raise the income level of small and marginal farmers. The state has suitable climate for blvoltine mulberry sericulture. Sericulture is eco-friendly occupations, which requires no energy and take minimum gestation period and less investment. It is ideally suited to the rural areas and can go a long way in solving unemployment problem to some extent. The state comes in bivoltine region where silkworms are reared twice in a year. This subsidiary occupation is providing employment to about 9000 rural families for supplementing their income by rearing silk-worms and selling cocoons.
In the State seven Sericulture divisions viz. Ghumarwin, Mandi, Palampur, Dehra, Nadaun, Dhaulkuan, Shimla under which 72 sericulture centre, 85 departmental mulberry farms and 28 mulberry nurseries are functioning. These sericulture centers conduct incubation of silkworm eggs, young age rearing and distribute chawki-reared silkworms to the farmers for late age rearing for production of silk cocoons. Besides distributing mulberry saplings and providing technical guidance to the Seri-culturists. Currently sericulture is spread over in about 1928 villages and its major concentration is in the district Bilaspur, Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Una and Sirmaur, Total eight silk reeling units one in Govt. Sector at Nurpur (Kangra) and seven under private sector have been set up in district Kangra (3), Hamirpur (1), Mandi (1) and Bilaspur (2).
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