As in the case of earlier visits by Union Industry Ministers, the recent visit of the Union Minister of State for Industry, Dr Ashwani Kumar has renewed the hopes of north-eastern States for their industrial development prospects sooner than later. With respect to his announcement of increase in capital subsidy from 15 per cent to 30 per cent, there is nothing new since the North East Industrial & Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP) which was announced more than a year back on March 30, 2007 provided the same in its clause (vii) which explicitly mentioned that "capital investment subsidy will be enhanced from 15 per cent of the investment in plant and machinery to 30 per cent.' What is new is that there would now be no upper limit of the size for industries to claim capital subsidy up to Rs 30 crore. The industrial policy of 2007 provided that the limit for automatic approval of the subsidy would be Rs 1.5 crore per unit and that only an empowered committee could grant the capital investment subsidy higher than Rs 1.5 crore but up to a maximum of Rs 30 crore. This relaxation will certainly help medium industries to plan investment in northeastern region. Another, important change from the policy provision is that while NEIIPP, 2007 extends 100 per cent excise duty exemption as before on all finished products made in north eastern region, the Central policy as conveyed now by Dr Kumar says that excise duty exemption would be offered if an existing industry expands by 25 per cent and, of course, carry out value addition in the region by generating employment. This is certainly a pragmatic policy since it has an in-built mechanism to ensure professionalism on the one hand and growth with efficiency on the other. Yet another important revelation by the Union Minister of State for Industry is that the entire backlog of transport subsidy amounting to Rs 770 crore has been released already and that Assam would get Rs 297 crore during the current year out of Rs 596 crore of transport subsidy released. It is important to note that however lucrative the investment policy may be, industrialisation cannot grow unless infrastructure is largely developed in the region. One could, however, recall that the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission while participating in a Guwahati conference on India's Look East Policy late last year assured the State of central allocation of Rs 12,793 crore for development of roads in the region in the eleventh plan, besides an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore for improvement in rail connectivity in addition to plan focus on hydro-electric power potential. Apart from this, the budgetary announcement of Assam's Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi of restructuring Assam Financial Corporation, the reduction of VAT on some locally manufactured products and opening up of a bio-technological park near Guwahati airport will certainly add to the industrial effort. If the planned approach turns into reality, one could certainly hope that the North-East would be an industrialised region within a decade or so.