NEW DELHI, Aug 7 - In what may lead to a serious setback, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has ruled out the possibility of resuming the registration of individual industrial units for claiming benefits of the North-East Industrial package.
The Centre�s clarification means that the fate of the special industrial package will continue to hang in balance. Currently, there is no proposal to start fresh registration of industrial units for claiming benefits of the schemes of the North East Industrial and Investment Policy (NEIIP), said Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman in a Lok Sabha reply.
The Minister also ruled the possibility of reviewing and making amendments to the NEIIP 2007.
The Central government had on December 3, 2014 suspended registration of all new schemes under the NEIIP, 2007, with immediate effect, evoking protest from the several States of the Northeast.
An order in this regard was issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry to the State governments of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
The move had evoked sharp reactions from industry and trade bodies.
The Federation of Industry and Commerce of the region, describing it as the height of arbitrariness of the Centre, said that it would send wrong signals to investors.
