A two day organised Global Investors Meet– ASCEND 2020 was held in Kochi, Kerala at Lulu Bolgatty International Convention Centre, Grand Hyatt. The meet was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Kerala Shri Pinarayi Vijayan and was organised by states Department of Industries. Totally Rs 1 lakh crore worth investment proposals were received.
Wage subsidy scheme was unveiled during the meet. As per the scheme Wage subsidy will be provided for the first 5 years for new ventures getting registered on April 1, 2020. The benefit will only be available to those units that provides ESI (Employee State Insurance) and PF (Provident Fund) benefits to workers. This would benefit 37 lakh people.
The proposed mega projects further include a Propylene Oxide manufacturing plant of 2,00,000 MPA capacity in the vicinity of BPCL-Kochi Refinery, a PVC manufacturing facility of capacity 150,000 TPA and a ₹1,864 crore KINFRA-initiated Petrochemical Park of international standards at Ambalamugal in Ernakulam district. The ₹131-crore Defence Park at 60 acres in Ottapalam of Palakkad district will have central government assistance under the Modified Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation scheme.