Invest India Business Immunity Platform (BIP) launched to help businesses withstand COVID-19

New Delhi, May 10: The platform, hosted on the Invest India website, is designed as a comprehensive resource to help businesses and investors get real-time updates on India’s active response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus). This dynamic and constantly updating platform keeps a regular track on developments with respect to the virus, provides latest information on various central and state government initiatives, gives access to special provisions, and answers and resolves queries through emails and on WhatsApp. The BIP is the active platform for business issue redressal, operating 24/7, with a team of dedicated sector experts and responding to queries at the earliest. Invest India has also announced a partnership with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for responding and resolving queries for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises. While COVID-19 continues to disrupt normal life, the impact of this crisis on businesses across the country is being continuously assessed.

The government, for its part, has issued timely guidelines for businesses. Business owners have been trying to grasp what these guidelines mean for their businesses. Realizing the uncertainty that the Corona crisis has caused among businesses, the platform was launched on 21st March,2020. The platform also includes frequently asked questions on important aspects like locations of COVID-19 testing, special permissions and other location-specific information. The portal also maps and highlights the response mechanism put in place by leading Indian companies such as sanitation of staff vehicles, placing orders in alternate markets, disabling biometric attendance systems, setting up of medical task force, requesting trainees to go home, business continuity plan, barring entry of visitors, suspension of air travel, usage of video-conferencing and tele-conferencing, developing online solutions and other unique initiatives. This BIP shall help people get access to all the information they require while staying in the comfort of their homes. With this platform, Invest India aims to bring facilitation at your doorstep!

Mr. Deepak Bagla, MD &CEO, Invest India has said “This is a platform for all of us to get together in the face of this unprecedented challenge of COVID-19. The team is working towards finding clarifications and solutions in a rapidly evolving scenario, especially from the perspective of business continuity for the business community. This platform also provides the ability to join the dots to find matching suppliers with required supplies and for innovators, startups and MSMEs to showcase their solutions. During the past 48 hours we’ve had over 30,000 visitors across 40 countries and 50,000 plus hits on our website. The platform is seeing an average time spent of nearly 5 minutes. Since yesterday the team has been working actively on over 200 business requests for business continuity and immunity. It is also a platform to hear from the experts on business strategies to be adopted during such times.”

OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA

Goa

8 mn tourist arrivals in 2018, five times the population of Goa

Goa attracts a large number of tourists from across the globe and is accessible through an international airport. International carriers operate around 500 air charter flights between Goa and countries such as Germany, Russia, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Norway.

Goa is a coastal state located in Western India. Goa is accessible through sea-route and has a presence of one of the 12 major ports in India at Mormugao. The state is also well-connected through rail and road routes. The National Highway-17 connects Goa with Mumbai in Maharashtra and other major cities in Karnataka.

The state is richly endowed with minerals such as iron ore, manganese, ferro-manganese, bauxite and silica sand. It has about 23 industrial estates established by Goa Industrial Development Corporation. Goa has installed power capacity to produce 581 MW.

Goa is the most urbanized state in India with one of the highest per capita Net State Domestic Product in the country.

Gujarat

2nd largest producer of crude oil (onshore) and natural gas

Gujarat ranked #1 in Logistics in the country according to the National Logistics Index 2019.

Gujarat ranked #1 in Export Preparedness Index 2020. Moreover, it ranked #3 in National Council of Applied Economic Research’s State Investment Potential Index (N-SIPI) in 2018. The State has 49 ports, including 1 major port and 48 non-major ports. The State also has 17 airports, including 1 international airport.

There are currently 20 operational Special Economic Zones (SEZs), 8 notified Special Investment Regions (SIR) and 202 Industrial Estates in Gujarat. Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) provides further impetus for industrial growth in Gujarat as 38% of the corridor lies in the state.

Gujarat International Financial Tec-City (GIFT City) in Ahmedabad is the country’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) that caters to customers outside the jurisdiction of the domestic economy.

Haryana

Largest producer of passenger vehicles and motorcycles in India

Haryana is one of India’s largest automobile hubs and has also emerged as a base for the knowledge industry, including IT and biotechnology.

Haryana ranks #3 in Export Preparedness Index 2020 under Landlocked states category. Haryana’s electronics and IT exports stood at $7.2 bn during 2016-17, which is 6.2% of the total electronics and IT exports from India. Haryana's business capital Gurugram is home to over 250 of the Fortune 500 companies.

Located in northern India, Haryana has four key geographical features: the Shivalik Hills to the North-East, semi-desert sandy plain to the South-West, the Aravalli Range in the South and Yamuna-Ghaggar plain forming the largest part. Haryana is extremely well-connected with access to two international airports, five civil airports, 1,630 km of rail network, 26,131 km of road network including 24 national highways (NH). The state has a total installed power capacity of 11,268 MW.

The entire state falls in the influence zone of two industrial corridors, namely, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC). Thirteen districts of Haryana are in the National Capital Region (NCR), which is a prominent trade and consumption center.

Himachal Pradesh

100% electricity generated from green energy sources

With five perennial rivers flowing through the state, Himachal Pradesh has the potential to contribute 26% to India's hydropower potential. The State has an estimated hydropower potential of over 27,000 MW.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt has emerged as a key manufacturing hub for various sectors and the region is known to be Asia’s largest bulk drug manufacturing area. Moreover, Himachal Pradesh ranks #3 in Export Preparedness Index 2020 under Himalayan states category.

Located in the western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh is known for its scenic beauty. The state attracted around 19.6 mn tourists in 2017, which is about 3 times the size of its population. The State Government has also developed appropriate infrastructure for tourism development which includes a provision of public utility services, roads, communication network, airports, transport facilities, water supply and civic amenities, among others.

Jammu and Kashmir

Largest producer of apples, walnuts and cherry in India

Renowned for its strong horticulture and vibrant floriculture sectors, Jammu and Kashmir is also one of the prominent locations for handloom and handicrafts products.

J&K is home to world's finest Biovoltine silk and Pashmina wool with the Handloom sector employing about 43,000 weavers across the UT. Major handicraft items include carpets, paper mache and shawls. Handloom sector has contributed towards J&K’s GDP with exports of $ 28.57 Mn in 2018-19 and the exports of handicraft goods standing at $ 131.09 Mn.

Jammu and Kashmir shares its international border with Pakistan. The UT lies in the Greater-Himalayan ranges and is enclosed with mountains and valleys. Chenab, Jhelum and Ravi are the major rivers that flow through it. It is well-connected with an international airport in Srinagar and a domestic airport in Jammu. The UT is home to about 57 industrial estates.

Jharkhand

Home to 40% of India's mineral wealth

Jharkhand is home to one of India's largest commercial manufacturing units by Tata Motors.

The country's oldest and one of the largest steel plants, operated by the world's 10th largest steel manufacturer - Tata steel, is located in Jamshedpur. Due to the high availability of metals and minerals such as steel and coal, the state is an ideal destination for setting up autocomponent industries, power projects, cement plants, among others. Jharkhand has an installed production capacity of nearly 1800 MW.

Jharkhand has a high yield in the production of food crops such as paddy and pulses and offers opportunities to exploit the market for agro-forestry products, cashew processing, medicinal plants processing, honey production and production of milk and meat products. The state ranked fifth in top FDI destinations amongst all Indian states in 2016 and currently ranks fourth in Ease of Doing Business ranking by the World Bank.

Source: Invest India, Government of India

Deepak Bagla, MD &CEO, Invest India