India's first 100 per cent women-owned FLO Industrial Park in Hyderabad began operations on Tuesday, the international women's day.

Promoted by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) in partnership with the Telangana government, the park announced commencement of operations by 25 women-owned and operated units representing 16 diverse green category industries.

The 50A acre FLO Industrial Park has been established with an investment of Rs 250 crores is the flagship project and first of its kind at a national level with participation open to chapter members, and the national members of FLO. The park has already garnered tremendous interest from women entrepreneurs to run and operate their business, FLO said.

The industrial park conceptualised in 2013 exclusively for women was formally inaugurated by Telangana's Industry Minister K T Rama Rao in the presence of FLO national President, Ujjwala Singhania, FLO Hyderabad Chairperson, Uma Chigurupati, FLO National Governing Body Member, Jyotsna Angara and others.

From the electronic sector to packaging, medical devices, wellness, engineering, and food processing, the park is at its core to demonstrate the power of women in the industry. FLO and its members infused significant investment to build this park, wherein the government provided the roads, electricity, water, sewerage, and sub-station. The park has also created amenities to offer a home environment for women by keeping in mind the necessities of working women entrepreneurs, including designing creches and playschools.

Rama Rao urged the entrepreneurs to think big, start to think about emerging technologies and focus on aerospace, defence, food processing, and forge global partnerships.

He promised another 100 acres for the expansion of FLO women industrial park, subject to the park focus on novel products. He also offered additional 10 per cent subsidy for women entrepreneurs.

Principal Secretary, IT, Jayesh Ranjan, applauded the unique aspect of the FLO Park as it has a very diversified set of industry from manufacturing to services all in green areas. Creating opportunities across spectrum is another area the government will be keen to embark upon.

Singhania said the objective of the park is to propagate and encourage sustainable development and growth. She termed it as a significant milestone which will pave the way to create more integrated business townships linked to the Industrial parks and establish such projects at various chapters.

"The dream-to-reality of this project is the result of the support from the government of Telangana. We are happy to announce today the commencement of 25 green projects totally owned by women, with many more in the pipeline, we expect this industrial park to generate 1600+ jobs in the next 2years of operation," said Chigurupati.

Angara expressed the opinion that India can increase its targeted GDP from 16 per cent to a much higher number by enabling women to participate in the growth of the economy. "This is an opportune time, today being International Women's Day, to convene action and not just a Dialogue on how to promote women's economic empowerment. It is said that the one way to make sure women participate in the economic growth of the country is by creating a healthy eco-system for women entrepreneurs. Such Industrial Parks shall give a tremendous boost to the ecosystem."

Established in 1983, FLO is a division of FICCI with its headquarters in Delhi and chapters in Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Ludhiana, Pune, Guwahati, Kolkata, and Lucknow representing over 5,700 diverse members.

Source : IANS