The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the east of the Indian mainland, float in splendid isolation in the Bay of Bengal. Once a hill range extending from Myanmar to Indonesia, these picturesque undulating islands, islets numbering around 556, are covered with dense damp and evergreen forests and endless varieties of exotic flora and fauna. Most of these islands are in the Andaman Group, 24 of which are inhabited. In the Nicobar group 13 islands are inhabited. The Andaman and Nicobars are separated by the Ten Degree Channel which is 150 Kms. wide.
These islands also boast of freedom fighting days, historically significant landmarks viz. Cellular Jail, Ross Island, Viper Island, Hopetown and Mount Harriet. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been declared as two of the 218 endemic bird area of the world. As many as 280 species and sub-species of birds have been reported existing in these islands, 105 of them being endemic. The Andaman Wood Pigeon, Andaman Padauk and Dugong are declared as State Bird, State Tree and State Animal respectively. There are about 96 Wildlife Sanctuaries, nine National Parks and one Biosphere Reserve in the islands. These islands are blessed with the bounties of both south-west and north-east monsoons.
The Islands of Andaman and Nicobar are blessed with rare variety of flora and fauna, exotic underwater marine life, crystal clear water and mangrove lined creeks. The Union Territory offers innumerable opportunities in tourism sector through water sports and adventure tourism such as trekking, island camping, snorkeling and scuba diving, sea aquarium, water theme park, wave surfing, Marina yatch, convention centre, health resorts, sanctuaries / National Park, Inter Island cruise liner etc. These include the following projects:
The Islands offer a vast marine potential for the fishing and marine sector,owing to a long coastline of 1912 Km with an exclusive economic zone of 6.00 lakh sq km accounting to 30% of the total EEZ of the Country (20.20 lakh sq Km) and a unique and rare marine habitat. The estimated annual fishery potential of A & N island is 1.48 lakh tons constituting about 3.8 percent of fisheries potential of the country (39 lakh tons). The present level of catch is only 28,000 tons (18.92 percent). It has been estimated that tuna fishery resource alone can account for 44 percent (64,500 Tons).
The proximity of the island to the International Trade Corridor offers good potential to the container port industry. The Great Nicobar Islands having the distinctive advantage of being in close proximity with the Indian coast line, the Neighboring South East Asian Countries and with a deviation time of just two hours from the East- West International Shipping Route is considered as an Ideal location for bunkering facility and establishment of Trans-shipment Port.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands enjoy a tropical and humid climate and receive an average rainfall of 3000 mm in about eight months from May to January. The area under Agriculture is nearly 50,000 ha. which accounts to 6% of total area. Out of this total cultivated area 12,000 ha. are flat land and the rest are hilly land. In hilly lands majority of the holdings are dominated with Coconut/Areca nut palms. The prevailing favorable soil and agro-climatic condition offer wide opportunities and immense potential for Horticultural crops like spices, fruits, plantation crops, Floriculture, Medicinal Aromatic and Dye Plants which contribute a lot towards our national economy in view of their huge domestic and export demands.
There is good scope for value added coconut products and there is an immediate need to exploit this resource. In Nicobar District, area under coconut is 14516.54 ha. with a production of 53.96 million nuts, this provides opportunity for establishment of an Integrated coconut processing complex at Car Nicobar.
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has identified Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) as one of the thrust area of development. The following are some typical Services that can be covered under ITeS which have potential for development in the Islands:
The services under ITeS covers diverse areas like finance, HR, administration, health care, telecommunication, manufacturing etc. armed with technology & manpower. These services are provided from e-enabled locations. This radically reduces costs and improves service standards.
In short, the service provider aims in providing B2B e-commerce solutions, which are human intensive services that are delivered over telecom networks or the internet over a range of business segments.
In order to provide adequate bandwidth for the above services, the Govt. Of India has entrusted the work of laying undersea optical fiber cable between Port Blair and Mainland (India) to M/s BSNL/MTNL. The survey for the work has already been completed in 2007. The Ministry of Communication & Information Technology, GOI has been requested for early finalization and speedy implementation of the project.
Land measuring 1.20 Hect at Hope Town (near LPG Plant) is in possession of the Administration for Setting up of Industrial Estate which could initially be earmarked for one of the ITES Park.
The A & N Islands have adequate power supply with a combined generation of 68 MW and the following additional capacity is planned in future :
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration is in dialogue with NTPC to install 5 MW grid connected SPV Power Plant in South Andaman and 1 MW grid connected SPV Power Plant in Middle Andaman.
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has identified the following sectors as the thrust areas for overall Development of the Islands.
The Micro small & Medium Enterprise Development Act, MSMED 2006 was launched all over the country from 2nd Oct 2006.The Act facilitates the micro, small & medium Enterprises in the following ways :
The MSME Act considers “Enterprise” as the Focus area rather than the erstwhile term of ‘Industry’ which has a limited scope. The Act has been made with a holistic view to emphasize the importance of service sector enterprises in the country as:
The term "Enterprise" denotes an industrial undertaking of service nature or any other establishment by whatever name called, engaged in the manufacture or production of goods, in any manner, pertaining to any industry specified in the first schedule to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act 1951 or engaged in providing or rending of any service or services.
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has recognized the importance and significance of the MSME enterprises and has provided a number of incentives and subsidies under various schemes. These measures have helped in creating the right environment for the industries to be established at different locations in the islands by tapping the specialized local talents.
The "Andaman & Nicobar Islands Transport Subsidy for Micro & Small Enterprises" (2012-2017) scheme was formulated by Directorate of Industries, A & N Administration in 2007 and was approved by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises GOI. The subsidy scheme shall remain in operation till March, 2017. Under this scheme, the freight charges incurred by any Micro/Small Enterprise shall be reimbursed as Transport Subsidy for :
For further details about the Scheme/ Programme, please contact :
Assistant Director (Tech) Directorate of Industries,
Middle Point, Port Blair
Phone no. 03192-232395/232771
General Manager,
DIC, Middle Port Blair
Phone No 03192-232601.
The "Andaman & Nicobar Islands Transport Subsidy for Micro & Small Enterprises" (2012-2017) scheme was formulated by Directorate of Industries, A & N Administration in 2007 and was approved by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises GOI. The subsidy scheme shall remain in operation till March, 2017.
Under this scheme, the freight charges incurred by any Micro/Small Enterprise shall be reimbursed as Transport Subsidy for :
For further details about the Scheme/ Programme, please contact :
Assistant Director (Tech) Directorate of Industries,
Middle Point, Port Blair
Phone no. 03192-232395/232771
General Manager,
DIC, Middle Port Blair
Phone No 03192-232601.
The Directorate of Industries A&N administration under its scheme "Andaman & Nicobar Islands Capital Investment Subsidy for Micro & Small Enterprises" reimburses the amount to micro & small Enterprises on its fixed capital investment excluding land & building for the period 2012-2017 @ 25% in South Andaman, Middle and 50% in Nicobar District.
For further details about the Scheme/ Programme, please contact :
General Manager,
DIC, Middle Port Blair
Phone No 03192-232601.
The Directorate of Industries A&N administration under its scheme " 50% Subsidy for procurement of Pollution Control Equipments and power generation Equipments for Micro & Small Enterprises" reimburses 50% subsidy for procurement of Pollution Control Equipments or Captive Power Generation Sets or Solar Power or Wind Power or Bio Mass or Hydro Power for Micro & Small Enterprises in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Enterprises subject to the maximum limit of Subsidy is Rs. 7.50 lakhs for Captive Power Generation Sets and for Pollution Control Equipments & Rs. 10.00 lakhs for Solar Power or Wind Power or Bio Mass or Hydro Power Machinery & equipments.
For further details about the Scheme/ Programme, please contact :
Assistant Director (Tech) Directorate of Industries,
Middle Point, Port Blair
Phone no. 03192-232395/232771
The Directorate of Industries, A & N Administration has formulated New Scheme/programme viz. “90% subsidy on copra dryer, Coir processing equipments, Bakery equipments, and hand tools for General Engineering, Carpentry and Handicrafts to Tribals of Andaman & Nicobar Islands” In order to uplift the socio economic development of Tribals of A & N Island.
The scheme is effective for the period 2012-17.
For further details about the Scheme/ Programme, please contact :
Assistant Director (Tech) Directorate of Industries,
Middle Point, Port Blair
Phone no. 03192-232395/232771
he Directorate of Industries A&N administration under its scheme "Andaman & Nicobar Islands Capital Investment Subsidy for Micro & Small Enterprises" reimburses the amount to micro & small Enterprises on its fixed capital investment excluding land & building for the period 2012-2017 @ 25% in South Andaman, Middle and 50% in Nicobar District.
For further details about the Scheme/ Programme, please contact :
General Manager,
DIC, Middle Port Blair
Phone No 03192-232601.