B20 Summit Nagaland: Northeast’s economic prospect highlighted

KOHIMA — As part of the B20 India initiatives in the Northeast, the much-anticipated B20 Conference was held at the State Banquet Hall in Kohima on Wednesday.

Delivering the keynote address during the plenary session, Vijay Rai, member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said that India, as a rapidly developing country, has a unique opportunity to shape the future of global trade and commerce in a way that benefits not just their economy, but the economies of other nations as well.

He apprised that the global agriculture market has grown from $11, 109, 32 billion in 2021 to $12,152.6 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4%.

Maintaining that the world’s population is growing and is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, he said the global cereal production is projected to increase by 13% by 2027, Rai apprised how crop farming activities and trade volumes will have to increase to meet the needs of the increased population.

He added they have gathered in Nagaland to push their agenda for inclusiveness, sustainability and growth through the initiatives of the Group of Twenty (G20) especially in the Northeastern region.

Apprising about the Northeast, which has about 4% of India’s population and 8% of the nation’s landmass, Gaigongdin Panmei, Financial Advisor of North Eastern Council (NEC), said the region used to be one of the top five revenue generators during the pre-independence with the first tea garden in the region being started almost 200 years ago.

Informing that the Prime Minister of India has announced that they will have 20% of ethanol production to be used in petrol, he underscored the vast opportunity for bamboo industry in the Northeast.

Panmei also stated that NEC is trying to promote exotic food, which could become a huge business, while apprising that the Central government has taken initiatives to plant rubber plants covering 2,00,000 hectares in the next five years.

He also underlined the scope of producing curcumin from turmeric, papain from papaya and capsaicin from Naga King chilli, which could be a huge market resource.

R Binchilo Thong, Agriculture Production Commissioner of Nagaland, while dwelling on the prospects of agriculture business in the state, informed that Nagaland has three GI registered horticulture crops namely – Naga Mircha (Naga King Chilli), Naga Tree Tomato and Naga Sweet Cucumber.

Maintaining that Nagaland is largely organic by default though small in area, he apprised about the investable commodities of the state like black rice which has plenty of vitamins, antioxidant substances and multi-nutritional and other products like kiwi, pineapple, ginger, passion fruit, large cardamom, etc.

Burjis Godrej, executive director of Godrej Agrovet Limited, while dwelling on the multilateral business partnerships in improving productivity in agriculture and animal husbandry for the Northeast, spoke about the Northeastern states having good oil palm hills.

Apprising the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEOOP), he stated that the ‘region has the most potential in the whole country for oil palm which will greatly benefit the farmers as well as the entire region’.

Godrej informed that there are some specific government incentives given to the Northeast while apprising that there is a 90:10 ratio for investment in the region between the Central and state governments against the ratio of the rest of the country which is 60:40.

The price paid to farmers on oil palm by companies in the Northeast is 12.3% of the international CPO price and 2% will be paid to farmers by the Central government for the region as opposed to the whole 14.3% of CPO price by companies in the rest of India. This will change over time to have the company pay more, he informed, adding that there is also tremendous support for the nurseries – INR 100 lakh for Northeast as opposed to INR 80 lakh for the rest of the country for 12 hectare area.

Khrishna Datta, Head Certification Business TQ Cert Services Private Limited, emphasised on the benefits of Organic Certification, Ind Gap Certification, Global Gap Certification, VCSMPP Certification, AYUSH Certification, Yoga Certification under Eat Right, etc.

Haobam Joyremba, CEO and managing director of CubeTen Technologies Pvt Ltd, informed how scores of youth from the Northeastern region are working in the IT sector while the region in general and Nagaland in particular, have huge opportunities in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry as most of the youngsters are good in speaking English.

He also spoke about artificial intelligence and machine learning, 5G proliferation, quantum computing, block chain, cyber security, edge computing, robotics process automation, virtual reality and augmented reality, growth of IOT Network, cloud migration, etc.

Kunal Vaid, founder and chief executive officer of Resham Sutra Pvt Limited, asserted how silk textiles existed in the Northeastern states for more than 2500 years while the region has all types of silk in the world.

The textile industry in the Northeast is a woman-centric activity unlike the other parts of the country, he said while maintaining that even different tribes and festivals of the region are associated with textiles.

Vaid underscored a “wonderful opportunity” to grow textiles in this region, adding that such an opportunity is “worth more than 3 billion dollars”. He viewed that there is a possibility to create more than 2,000 new jobs in the textile industry within the Northeastern region.

He informed that the region is the only part of the world which has more than 3 million trained weavers which according to him is a “huge pool of talents already available.”

Arjit Purkayastha, chapter chairman, Northeast Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India, stated that in recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the joint venture and partnership in the tourism sector, adding that tourism and hospitality sector is a vital part of the global economy, contributing substantially to job creation and economic growth.

Mentioning about multilateral tourism and hospitality partnerships, he apprised about embassies playing a crucial role in promoting sustainable tourism while citing how foreign embassies can facilitate cross-border cooperation between different countries to promote sustainable tourism.

Kekhrievor Kevichusa, Commissioner And Secretary, Industries and Commerce, highlighted the investment opportunities and support ecosystem for doing business in the state.

Representatives from Cuba, Iceland, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Germany, Bangladesh and others also spoke on the occasion.