Gandhinagar: The new industrial policy announced by the state govt on Monday aims to position Gujarat as a global research and development (R&D) hub by providing a slew of incentives in the form of CAPEX (capital expenditure) and OPEX (operating expenditure) support and financial assistance for intellectual property rights and patents.An early bird incentive system has been introduced in the new industrial policy, where the first five R&D centres with a minimum investment of Rs 300 crore will receive 50% capital subsidy of up to Rs 50 crore on building, machinery and equipment in five years. In addition, 25% of land allotment price in GIDC, Dholera SIR or govt land, or 25% of the jantri rate in case of private land, will be reimbursed to such R&D centres.Other R&D centres with a minimum investment of Rs 100 crore will receive capital subsidy of up to Rs 20 crore on building, machinery and equipment in five years.“Incentivising research and development will create an ecosystem for new-age industries to grow in the state. The state will reap huge benefits of incentivising R&D activities,” deputy CM and state industries minister Harsh Sanghavi said at the launch of the policy.The policy document said that operating expenses (OPEX) support will be provided to R&D centres in the form of power tariff at Re 1 per unit for a period of five years and a payroll subsidy of Rs 10,000 per person per month for a period of three years.R&D centres established under the policy will also get 100% reimbursement of up to Rs 10,000 per IPR (intellectual property right) filed for a period of 10 years and 75% of cost of up to Rs 15 lakh per patent for a total of 25 patents over a period of 10 years.In addition, in-house R&D centres of companies that are recognised by DSIR will get 50% of capital subsidy up to Rs 50 crore, and companies setting up NABL-certified labs will get assistance of up to Rs 20 crore.
