Industrial Development & Economic Growth in Puducherry

Puducherry, a union territory (UT) of India, is bounded on the East by the Bay of Bengal and on the remaining three sides by Tamil Nadu.

The UT comprises Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, wherein Karaikal lies about 130 km south of Puducherry on the East Coast and Mahe is situated on the Malabar Coast on the Western Ghats surrounded by Kerala. Yanam is situated adjoining the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

As of February 2021, Puducherry had a total installed power generation capacity of 380.43 MW, of which 338.60 MW was under the central sector, state utilities (32.50 MW) and private sector (9.33 MW). Of the total installed power-generation capacity, 285.10 MW was contributed by thermal and 9.33 MW by renewable energy.

The UT has a well-developed social, physical and industrial infrastructure. It has a domestic airport that connects it to cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Vijayawada. It also two port in Puducherry and Karaikal.

Recent Developments:

• In February 2021, Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi inaugurated the Blood Centre at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, and dedicated a 100-bed hostel to women athletes in Lawspet, Puducherry. In addition, he inaugurated the reconstructed Heritage Marie Building.
• In February 2021, The Ministry of MSME announced that it is establishing an expertise centre in Puducherry to promote, support and foster growth of indigenous MSMEs and start-ups in the state.
• In January 2021, the Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare in Puducherry introduced a helpline to assist fishermen in contacting the department to resolve their grievances.
  • In addition, the government will provide transponders at a subsidised rate. It will offer a subsidy of Rs. 5,000 (US$ 68.90) and as a transponder costs Rs. 15,000 (US$ 206.69), the fishermen would only have to pay Rs. 10,000 (US$ 137.79) to procure the device.
• In Union Budget 2021, the total funds transferred to Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu & Kashmir stood at Rs. 48,686 crore (US$ 6.72 billion). Of the total, the government allocated funds worth Rs. 8,065 crore (US$ 1.11 billion) to centrally sponsored schemes, Rs. 177 crore (US$ 24.43 million) to central sector schemes and Rs. 40,444 crore (US$ 5.58 billion) to other categories of expenditure.

Key Sectors:

• Agriculture is one of the most important occupations for the people of Pondicherry. About 45% of the total population depends directly or indirectly on farming. The main crop of this territory is paddy. The UT is one of the largest producers of bananas, flowers, tapioca, coconut, groundnut and sugarcane.
• Puducherry is an attractive tourist destination with beaches, French architecture, churches and temples. Domestic tourists arrived from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kerala, Chennai, Odisha and West Bengal. The UT also has an occupancy capacity of 5,000 rooms in Puducherry as of 2018.

• Puducherry has a 45-km coastline, with 26 landing centres and 1,000 sq. km. of continental shelves (with potential for marine fisheries). The UT also has fresh-water area in the form of ponds and tanks suitable for both capture and culture fishery.