Kohima: Nagaland’s ambitious push for industrial growth is dead in the water. More than 15 months after the state notified the Nagaland Trade, Investment and Industrial Policy 2025, not a single business has registered. No applications have been approved. Zero financial incentives have reached the hands of entrepreneurs.
The Directorate of Industries and Commerce confirmed these figures in a written response. The state government officially notified the policy on May 8, 2025. It reached the gazette on June 13. Yet, the machinery remains frozen.
The department admits the failure. They remain stuck in administrative limbo. The Directorate stated that it "acknowledges and regrets the lapses in timely implementation of the scheme that may have occurred." Officials claim they are still ironing out financial and operational details.
Public outreach is nonexistent. The department skipped press releases and public awareness campaigns entirely. Instead, they sent internal memos to district officials on June 4, 2026. This happened more than a year after the policy was first announced. General Managers of District Industries Centres and Deputy Commissioners received these directives, but no clear path for local entrepreneurs exists.
Core infrastructure is missing. A dedicated corpus fund for credit support remains a pending proposal submitted on June 23, 2026. The department only approached the Information Technology and Communication Department on August 5, 2026, to request a digital portal. Without this, the system cannot function.
The government insists that general guidelines for incentives were ready by March 27, 2026. They published operational procedures online on August 14, 2026. Despite these documents, the state lacks the necessary digital and financial framework to process claims. The policy sits on a shelf while the government scrambles to catch up.
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