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Activated Micro Carbon, Agricultural implements, Aluminum utensils, Biscuit, Black & Galvanised wire, Bread, Cane & Bamboo works, Chanachur & dalmut, Ceiling tiles, Cemented zafri & ventilator, Cold storage, Corrugated sheets, Data processing, Hardware assembling, Dehydrated vegetables, Foot wear, Gum paste, Hand pump, Ice & ice candy, Internet Kiosk, Jackfruit processing, Jute Carpet, Jute Twins, Laundry soap, Lemon grass & Citronella products, Metal castings, Mineral water, Mustard Oil extraction, Orange & Pineapple Products, Oyster Mushroom, Paints & Varnishes, Phenyl & all Haldia Down Stream Projects (bucket, soap-case, plastic furnitures, PVC chappals/shoes, HDPE pipes, fittings, PVC cables, choke & other electrical fittings), Photocopier, Pickles, Ply/block board, Potato chips & wafers, Ready-made Garments, Software industry, Spices, Squashes & Syrup, Straw board, Tomato processing, Tooth powder, Umbrella assembling, Winter jackets, Wire nails, Wooden furniture, Woolen sweater, Yarn dyeing.

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Cooch Behar, an Industrially Backward District, has undergone a tremendous growth in Industrial Development in last years. A sizable no of Industries have been set up in the District which are not only quantitative but definitely qualitative. In fact the District has shown the highest growth amongst the Districts of North Bengal. A few units which are set up in the District are not only first of their type in North Bengal but some are of the first in the Eastern India. We have the most sophisticated Haldia Down Stream Projects in Cooch Behar. Units for Unconventional and Industrially used products are now being set up in the District. Cold Drawing Steel Plant, Casting Units, Modern Jute Mills are in operation / implementation in the District. As regards food processing units we have set up 3 mechanised bread units, and the biggest Fruit Processing unit have been commissioned in the District. Out of the 5 existing cold storages the capacity of two are being augmented and four unit cold storage are being implemented working on day-night

(contd.) basis to catch the ensuing harvesting season. What–so-more, Cooch Behar will be the first District to set up a few ultra modern Multi-purpose cold storages to be operative in near future.

Last year an amount of Rs. 12.00 crores had been invested in industrial sector in Cooch Behar. This year as per action plan as also the steps taken so far, there would be new investment to the extent of Rs. 35.00 crores in the District. The Credit Deposit Ratio has touched an all time high of 47% depicting a congenial environment for investment in the District. Apart from the list of Industries given above a sizable no of units had been set up under tiny and decentralized sector and schematic lending which is the harvest of ‘Swarojgar Mela' organized by the District Administration/ Banks, FIs and Byabasayee Samity of the District.

The following industries are under implementation/ constructions and will be commissioned very shortly :-
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Sl. no.	Nature of Units	Project Cost (in lakhs)		Sl. no.	Nature of Units	Project Cost (in lakhs)
1.	Cold Storage (5 nos.)	2000.00		5.	Herbal Medicines (2 nos.)	50.00
2.	Multi-purpose Cold Storages (3 nos.)	240.00		6.	Cold Drawing Machine & Wire Nails	56.00
3.	Ginnery - for opening waste cotton (2 nos.)	120.00		7.	Jute Weaving	60.00
4.	PVC Resin Electrical Fittings	180.00		8.	Food Processing Units (8 nos.)	120.00
					Total :	2826.00

The industrialization process has taken up a new space in Cooch Behar.
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Apart from the usual infrastructure available, an Industrial Area has been set up very close to the District Town. The estate comprises of 131 acres of land in which 64 acres are allotted for Industrial Sector whereas 20 acres are allotted as residential area for industrial workers. The industrial area is equipped with 2 X 5 MVA sub-station; all other required facilities are available for setting up new industries. 54 nos of entrepreneurs have already procured 32 acres of land in the Industrial Growth Centre and 22 units have already started production. Another 12 entrepreneurs have complied with the formalities and will be setting up units in the Growth Centre.
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The District Administration is trying to induct Big Houses to set up a big Industry in this growth centre so that a group of ancillary units may also be considered for set up for servicing them.

Videocon (India)(Dhoot Group), Kanrnataka Strips (Singhal Group) visited Cooch Behar recently to explore the feasibility of setting up of their unit.

The District Industries Centre (DIC), apart from its usual assistance to the entrepreneurs/ existing units, is conducting the following Awareness and Motivation Programmes during the current financial year (2001-2002) :-

In the District Level - 2
In Block Level - 12
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# EDP Programme has been conducted jointly with WEBCON and 12 out of the 20 candidates have been sanctioned/ agreed in principal to sanction loan by Banks Financial Institution.

# Apart from above the District Administration is contemplating to conduct a trade oriented programme on food processing and plastic products produced in hand operated machines.

# Promotional training programme on different thrust area of handicrafts are conducted regularly to generate better earnings and employment amongst village artisans.

# Moreover, Industrial Association like BNCCI is conducting EDP at Cooch Behar in regular intervals from which a no. of participants are expected to come up for setting up of industries.

# Apart from above, the National Horticultural Board is conducting awareness programme for Agro Industries.

# NSIC conducts campaign at regular intervals for setting up of industries through their schemes at Cooch Behar.

# Cooch Behar Polytechnic, through their community Polytechnic Cell, conducts EDP for the common mass of the society and train up people for setting small units.

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Cooch Behar is constrained from the point of view of transport and communication. Rivers are not navigable and has only 127 km of railway track. The climate is mostly wet which makes it difficult to preserve/ store products. Moreover, the units face difficulty in respect of electricity and also Sales Tax matters because those are controlled by the Jalpaiguri Division. The Government has taken a careful note of the above facts and categorised the district under 'C' category and all necessary assistance applicable for such category are being implemented.

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In the last year (2002-2003) Rs. 72 lakhs had been disbursed to the units under new/expansion scheme. In cumulative terms, more than Rs. 160 lakhs has so far been disbursed to the units of the district as Subsidy.

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Also check out :~ 

District Industries Centre (DIC) , Agriculture in Cooch Behar , Sericulture