FINAL DISTRICT-DRIVEN GROWTH A PILOT STUDY FOR MAKING INDIA A $5 TRILLION ECONOMY REPORT FOR SOLAN DISTRICT Submitted by: National Council of Applied Economic Research January, 2019 1 1 NCAER DIPP District Driven Growth Pilot Study Solan ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The NCAER study team would like to thank the officials of DIPP and MoCI for their support and guidance through the course of the study. At DIPP, we are thankful to Mr. Anand S. Bhal, Senior Economic Adviser for his suggestions and cooperation. Our special thanks to his team members, particularly Mr. Sandip Kote, Ms. Kokila Jayaram and Ms. Supriya Malik for their support and for connecting us with the district officials. At MoCI, the team had a privilege to interact with the Hon. Minister, Mr. Suresh Prabhu and get his valuable insights on the scope of the study. His officials, particularly Mr. Digvijay Sujlana and Mr. Abheet Dwivedi, have been a wonderful support in all aspects of the study, especially in arranging meetings with the officials from the district and state capital departments. The team benefitted immensely from the insightful meetings with the district stakeholders. The team would like to express its gratitude to the district Deputy Commissioner, Sh. Vinod Kumar, IAS, for having discussions with us on the district potential areas. We had rounds of extensive discussions – personally, telephonically and through mail exchanges – with Sh. Vivek Chandel, Additional District Magistrate, Solan who kindly arranged our meetings with the officials of all departments of the district like Agriculture, Horticulture, Industry, Tourism and Planning at Solan DC Office. At Shimla, the team met the Economic Adviser, Department of Economics and Statistics and Director, Industries, who shared their valuable inputs and also relevant data for the report. We also had an extremely useful group session with industry representatives at Baddi. The meeting, promptly organised and attended by Mr. Sanjay Kanwar, Jt. Dir. Industries, Baddi, was enriched by the comments and inputs from Mr. Vikram Bindal (State President, Laghu Udyog Bharti), Dr. Rajesh Gupta (State President, Himachal Drugs Manufacturers Association), Mr. Satish Singhal (Chief Advisor, Himachal Drugs Manufacturers Association) and Mr. Rajeen Satya (Executive Officer, BBN Industrial Association). At NCAER, we are thankful to Dr. Shekhar Shah (DG, NCAER), for his constant and critical support in compiling the report. Our sincere thanks to Dr. Anil Sharma (Director Operations, NCAER) and Dr. Rajesh Chadha (Director Research, NCAER) for providing their valuable inputs. STUDY TEAM Team Leader: Dr Poonam Munjal Senior Advisers: Mr. Deepak Sanan, Prof D.B. Gupta, Mr. Somnath Sen Consultant: Dr Nijara Deka RESEARCH SUPPORT Dr Palash Baruah (Research Analyst), Ms. Sundus Usmani (Research Assistant), Ms. Sanjana Chhabra (Research Assistant), Ms. Javeria Khursheed (Research Assistant), Ms. Gunjan Pal (Research Assistant), Mr. Rahat Hasan Khan (Research Assistant), Ms. Monisha Grover (Consultant) I NCAER DIPP District Driven Growth Pilot Study Solan II NCAER DIPP District Driven Growth Pilot Study Solan Contents LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................... VII I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 I.1. Context of the study ...................................................................................................................... 1 I.2. Objectives .............................................................................................................................................. 1 I.3. Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 2 I.4. Limitations .......................................................................................................................................... 2 II. SOLAN DISTRICT OVERVIEW ........................................................................................... 3 II.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 II.2 Geographic profile ...................................................................................................................................... 3 II.3 Physiography .................................................................................................................................................. 3 II.4 Administrative Setup ................................................................................................................................ 5 II.5 Demographic and social profile....................................................................................................... 6 II.6 Industry ............................................................................................................................................................... 6 II.7 Services ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 II.8 Tourism ................................................................................................................................................................ 7 II.9 Fair and festivals .......................................................................................................................................... 7 III. ECONOMIC AND INFRASTRUTURAL PROFILE ............................................................ 9 III.1. Gross Domestic Product ........................................................................................................... 9 III.2. Employment ..................................................................................................................................... 11 III.3. Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................. 14 III.4. Ownership of assets ................................................................................................................... 17 IV. SECTORAL PERFORMANCE AND CHALLENGES ....................................................... 19 IV.1. Industry................................................................................................................................................ 19 IV.1.1. Industrial Schemes ........................................................................................................... 22 IV.1.2. Ease of doing Business .................................................................................................... 23 IV.1.3. Potential areas of industrial growth............................................................................. 24 Pharmaceuticals ............................................................................................................................... 24 Information Technology ................................................................................................................. 26 Food Processing................................................................................................................................ 27 IV.2. Agriculture......................................................................................................................................... 28 III NCAER DIPP District Driven Growth Pilot Study Solan IV.2.1. Land-Use pattern ............................................................................................................. 28 IV.2.2. Agricultural schemes ....................................................................................................... 29 IV.2.3. Major Crops ...................................................................................................................... 29 IV.2.4. Protected Cultivation ....................................................................................................... 32 IV.3. Services ................................................................................................................................................. 34 Tourism .............................................................................................................................................. 34 Education .......................................................................................................................................... 35 V. HUMAN RESOURCES AND INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY .............................................. 39 V.1. Literacy Rate.................................................................................................................................... 39 V.2. Occupational Structure........................................................................................................... 39 V.3. Skill Development/Vocational Training institutes ......................................... 39 VI. RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................... 41 VI.1. Recommendations for Industrial growth ...................................................................