Article Posted on : - Aug 23, 2015

WASHINGTON (PTI): The US has expressed keen interest in expansion of defence and aerospace industry in Haryana with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on a visit to the country to seek investments for his state.

In a meeting with Khattar, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal also has affirmed deep interest of US companies in making investments in the state.

Expressing keen interest in expansion of defence and aerospace industry in the state, Biswal said she would visit Haryana during her next tour to India.

During the meeting, Khattar said he was very much concerned about the issues industry had faced in Haryana during the last few years.

Now his government has launched its new Entrepreneur Promotion Policy 2015 which emphasises on ease-of-doing business, enhancing competitiveness of industry by reducing cost of doing business, and single-window clearance, Khattar said according to a media release.

The new policy also has the provision of no enhancement once the cost of land is fixed.

He said that the insurance sector is also being strengthened to ensure stability of industry.

Haryana, he said, has locational advantage as it surrounds national capital Delhi on three sides.

Opening a broad window on Haryana, Khattar said that a vibrant and fast growing industrial powerhouse and a veritable hub of knowledge, the state offered tremendous scope for investment in several fields.

The state government has signed an MoU with Pratt and Whitney of United Technologies in Connecticut state.

"We would also support your efforts towards making more investments in Haryana," the chief minister said.

Haryana Industries and Commerce Minister, Capt Abhimanyu said that state had already witnessed presence of 200 out of 500 Fortune companies.

"We are leading in automobile manufacturing sector besides the strategic advantage of Delhi market. The KMP expressway, whose work was pending for over last decade would be completed in next 2.5 years. It would be a six-lane expressway that would open new avenues of industrial growth in Haryana," he said.

Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley-based global network of Indian American entrepreneurs and professionals has agreed to act as a conduit for channelising investments in the field of Information Technology start-ups and IT projects into Haryana.

Following a meeting with the visiting Haryana Chief Minister Khattar and his delegation, TiE-San Francisco said it will work in tandem with the state government in such areas as e-education, e-healthcare and skill development.

According to a statement by the Haryana government, TiE has also evinced interest in universities of Haryana for giving applied material research a leg-up.

It has agreed in principle to engage NIT Kurukshetra for promoting research and development efforts in the field of material engineering.

Materials utilised in solar, display panel and semi-conducive chips will form bulk of the research and development efforts, it said.

Welcoming the chief minister and the industries minister, TiE President Venkatesh Shukla emphasised TiE's focus on accelerating the success of tech companies in India.

TiE has 61 chapters in 18 countries. Conceived in 1992, it has a base of 13,000 members.

In his interaction, Khattar assured them that the state government would facilitate membership programme in consultation with TiE on its innovation campus in Gurgaon.

Besides, the state government will create a special dispensation for speedy disposal of commercial disputes involving start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises.

It has also agreed to provide special dispensation in public procurement policy for sourcing services from Information Technology/ITES start-ups.