In the east of Indian mainland is the archipelago of 572 emerald islands, islets and rocks known as Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Port Blair is the capital as well a busting commercial hub. The main landmasses in the northern group - the Andaman Islands - are North, Middle and South Andaman islands that are separated by narrow waterways. Smaller islands lie dotted around these. Further south across Duncan Passage is Little Andaman. Northeast of Port Blair is Ritchie's Archipelago, in which lies Havelock Island, boasting of beaches rated amongst the best in the world. Rising from the azure waters northeast of Ritchie's Archipelago are two islands of volcanic origin - Narcondum Islands and Barren Island. The latter is India's only active volcano.The southern group-the Nicobar Islands-is mostly inaccessible to tourists. It is separated from the Andaman Islands by the Ten Degree Channel. The southernmost island, Great Nicobar, is the largest island in this group whereas the northernmost island, Car Nicobar, is the administrative headquarters.

This Union Territory has a length of more than 700 kms from North to South with 36 inhabited islands. These undulating islands are covered with dense forests and endless variety of exotic flora and fauna. The topography of the islands is hilly and abounds in evergreen forests. The sea around the islands offers excellent scope for adventure water sports. The rare flora and fauna, underwater marine life and corals, crystal clear water and mangrove-lined creeks, offer a dream­ view of the rare gifts of nature. These islands are home to the aboriginal tribes such as the Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas and Sentinalese, all of Negrito origin, while the tribes of Nicobars is the Nicobarese and Shompens, both of Mongoloid origin.

Advantage Andaman and Nicobar

• Rare varieties of flora and fauna, exotic underwater marine life, crystal clear water and mangrove lined creeks.
  
  
• High literacy rate of 81.29%
  
  
• Vast Marine Potential.
  
  
• Peaceful Environment with negligible Industrial dispute/law and order problem.
  
  
• Close knit/streamlined/compact administration, clearance etc. can be obtained in timely fashion.
  
  
• Near to Intemational Trade Corridor.

Economic Infrastructure

By Sea

Regular passenger ship services are available to Port Blair from Chennai, Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam and back. There are three to four sailings every month from Kolkata and Chennai to Port Blair and vice-versa. There is one sailing from Vishakhapatnam in a month. The voyage takes about 50 to 60 hours and the ship normally berths at Port Blair for about two to four days

By Air

Port Blair is connected with Chennai and Kolkata by air. Presently Alliance Air/Indian Airlines and Jet Airways operate flights. Foreign tourist charter flights are also permitted to land at Port Blair subject to the fulfilment of guidelines of the Director General of Civil Aviation.

Thrust Areas

The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has identified the following sectors as the thrust areas for overall Development of the Islands:

• Tourism
  
  
• Coir & Coconut based Industries
  
  
• Information Technology Enabled Services
  
  
• Hydro Carbon Energy/
  
  
• Non conventional Energy
  
  
• Wooden, Shell.
  
  
• Cane & Bamboo Handicrafts
  
  
• Shipping Sectors including Transshipment port, Bunkering facilities and Dry Dock
  
  
• High value Agricultural Products
  
  
• Service Industry
  
  
• Fisheries
  

Investment Opportunities

Tourism

The Islands of Andaman and Nicobar are blessed with rare variety of flora and fauna, exotic underwater marine life, crystal clear water and mangrove lined creeks. The Union T enritory offers innumerable opportunities for tourism through water sports and adventure tourism such as trekking, island camping, snorkeling and scuba diving, sea aquarium, water theme park, wave surfing, Marina yatch, convention centre, health resorts, sanctuaries / National Park, Inter Island cruise liner etc.Recent developments in Andaman and Nicobar's tourism sector include:

• Expression of interest for Integrated Water front complex including Yacht Marina for selection of developer under PPP is being floated.
  
  
• Expression of Interest for 35 room luxury boat planned to be implemented under PPP is being floated.
  
  
• Expression of interest for two Mechanized luxury boats of I5 passenger capacity to be implemented under PPP is being floated.
  
  
• RFQ for four sites each at Havelock, Neil, Hut Bay and Long Islands (Lalaji Bay) for development of tourist destination under Public Private Partnership (PPP) is being floated shortly.
  
  
• Convention center is under construction at Havelock, Dolphin Resort.
  
  
• Investors are invited for setting up Scuba Diving school at Havelock, Administration will render all assistance.
  
  
• Plying of house boat and backwater cruises will also be supported by the Administration.
  
  

Fisheries

The Islands offer a vast marine potential for the fishing and marine sector, owing to a long coastline of 19I2 Kms with an exclusive economic zone of 6 lakh sq km accounting for 30% of the total Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Country (2.02 million sq km) and a unique and rare marine habitat. The estimated annual fishery potential of Island is 0.15 million tons consisting about 3.8 percent of fisheries potential of the country (3.9 million tons). The present level of catch is 28,000 tons (18.92 percent). It has been estimated that tuna fishery resource alone accounts for 44 percent (64,500 Tons).Recent developments in Andaman and Nicobar's fishery sector include:

• Establishment of 18 fish landing centers;of which four are under constnuction.
  
  
• Potential for investment in fishing, processing, storage, transportation, marketing and export of various fish and fish products including tuna and tuna like fishes.
  
  
• Potential for investment for Culture of fish and shell fishes in bays and in shore water.
  
  
• Scope for coastal aqua culture.
  
  
• Scope for sports fishing.
  
  
• Scope for fresh water fish culture.
  

Ports & Shipping

The proximity ofthe islands to the International Trade Corridor offers good potential to the container port industry. Great Nicobar Islands having the distinctive advantage of being in close proximity with the Indonesian coast line, and the Neighboring South East Asian Countries, with a deviation time of just two hours from the East-West International Shipping Route is considered as an Ideal location for bunkering facility and establishment of Trans-shipment Port.Recent developments in Andaman and Nicobar's ports and shipping sector include:

• Feasibility study for establishment of Trans-shipment Port at Great Nicobar has been initiated.
  
  
• For establishment of bunkering facility at Great Nicobar under PPP a feasibility study is planned.
  
  
• For establishment of Dry Dock under PPP, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is being floated.
  

Power

Andaman & Nicobar Islands have adequate power supply with a combined generation of 68 MW and the following additional capacity is planned.There is a potential of about 4MW generation capacity through Bio Mass using Coconut waste etc., in South Andaman. By adding 25% of coal dust about 5MW can be generated.Expression of Interest (EOI) has been floated for the same.

Planned augmentation of 33 MW generation capacity in South Andaman by using multi fuels such as Bio Mass, Coal Dust etc., for which the Central Electricity Authority has given In principal approval.Recent developments in Andaman and Nicobar's power sector include:

• EOI for 2 MW generation capacity through Biomass in Little Andaman has been floated.
  
  
• EOI for 1.5 MW generation capacity through Biomass in Car Nicobar has been floated.

Information Technology Enabled Services

The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has identified Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) as one of the thrust area of development services like Distributed transaction processing (DTP), cyber cafe, medical transcription, software development, BPO etc.,ITeS covers diverse areas like finance, HR, administration, health care, telecommunication, manufacturing etc. Armed with technology & manpower, these services can be provided from e-enabled locations. This radically reduces costs and Improves service standards.In short, this administration aims to facilitate B2B e-commerce solutions, which are human intensive services that are delivered over telecom networks or the internet with a range of business segments.

Agriculture

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands enjoy a tropical and humid climate and receive an average rainfall of 3000 mm in about eight months commencing from May to January. The area under Agriculture is nearly 50,000 ha. which accounts for 6% of the total area. Out of this total cultivated area 12,000 ha. are flat land and the rest are hilly land. In hilly lands majority of the holdings are dominated with Coconut/Areca nut palms. The prevailing favorable soil and agro-c1imatic condition offer wide opportunities and immense potential for Horticultural crops like spices, fruits, plantation crops, Floriculture, Medicinal Aromatic and Dye Plants which contribute a lot towards our national economy in view of their huge domestic and export demands.

There is good scope for value added coconut products and there is an immediate need to exploit this resource. In Nicobar District area under coconut is 14516.54 ha. with a production of 53.96 million nuts. This provides an opportunity for establishment of an Integrated coconut processing complex at Car Nicobar.

• Administration is setting up a Coconut Mission for promotion of value added products based on Coconut and Copra.
  
  
• Ample opportunity for setting up of integrated coconut complex under PPP.
  
  
• Ample opportunity for Horticulture and Floriculture.
  

Package of Incentives for Small & Micro Enterprise in Andaman & Nicobar Islands

• Andaman & Nicobar Island Transport Subsidy programme for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
  
  
• Andaman & Nicobar Inter Island Transport subsidy programme for SMEs III.
  
  
• Andaman & Nicobar Capital Investment Subsidy Programme for SMEs.
  
  
• 50% Subsidy for procurement of Pollution Control Equipments, Captive power.
  
  
• Generation sets, Solar Power, Wind Power, Bio Mass, Hydro Power & Water harvesting equipments for SME units in Islands.
  
  
• 90% subsidy on copra dryer, Coir processing equipments, Bakery equipments, hand tools for General Engineering, Carpentry, Masonry and Handicrafts to Tribals.
  
  
• The following new programmes have been proposed in the Annual Plan 2009-10:
  
  
  • Interest Free Loan to IT & ITeS
    
    
  • 50% subsidy to IT & ITeS.

Useful Web links

Government of Andaman and Nicobar

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO)