NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya Scindia today outlined a phase of accelerated strategic consolidation across India’s Northeast, underscoring the Ministry’s sustained development push over the past 19 months in line with the Centre’s Act East Policy.
Addressing journalists during an informal media interaction, the Minister highlighted that while investment outreach through domestic and international roadshows has translated into substantial Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and investment intent, the government is now sharply focused on bridging the critical “implementation gap” to ensure time-bound conversion of commitments into on-ground assets.
MoU-to-Ground Conversion Emerges as Key Administrative Priority
Over the review period, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) has secured investment interest amounting to ₹4.48 lakh crore through platforms such as the Rising Northeast Investors Summit 2025, resulting in 939 MoUs and Letters of Intent spanning strategic sectors including energy, agri-food processing, and IT/ITeS.
The Minister acknowledged that procedural clearances at local levels, coupled with last-mile logistical challenges in difficult terrains, have contributed to delays in project grounding. In response, the Ministry has operationalized a framework involving the appointment of state-level Nodal Officers and Field Technical Support Units (FTSUs) to streamline approvals and facilitate faster execution.
Chief Minister-Led Task Forces Institutionalized Across Eight States
In a significant step towards decentralized and cooperative federal governance, Chief Minister-led Sectoral High-Level Task Forces have been instituted across all eight Northeastern states to ensure convergence of policy execution under the ‘Ashtalakshmi’ development framework.
These task forces are driving sector-specific interventions in logistics and connectivity, tourism, agriculture and food processing, handicrafts and handloom exports, youth and sports infrastructure, industrial investment under the UNNATI 2024 scheme, cross-border economic corridor development, and protein self-reliance through fisheries, dairy, and poultry value chains.
Record Budgetary Support Powers Act East Infrastructure Drive
The Minister further noted that implementation of the Act East Policy has been reinforced through record utilization of the mandated 10 percent Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for the region, which reached ₹1,02,749 crore in the current fiscal cycle.
Key infrastructure milestones include the expansion of operational airports in the region from nine to 17, ongoing rail connectivity projects aimed at linking all eight state capitals by 2029, and enhanced cross-border trade through the Agartala-Akhaura rail link with Bangladesh.
Additionally, the UNNATI (Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization) scheme continues to provide capital investment incentives to manufacturing entities seeking to establish a footprint in the region, further positioning the Northeast as a strategic gateway to ASEAN markets.
“The Northeast is no longer India’s last frontier; it is our first frontier,” Scindia said, emphasizing the region’s demographic dividend, with nearly 70 percent of its population below the age of 28, as a driver of future economic growth.
