In 2024, Sikkim, a serene Himalayan state often hailed for its beauty and biodiversity launched its most audacious policy to date. The Industrial & Investment Policy 2024 is not merely an economic document; it is a manifesto for reimagining Sikkim as a model of sustainable progress. Setting out to draw ₹30,000 crore in green investments by 2035, create 20,000 quality jobs, and foster an entrepreneurial culture, the policy poses a question rarely asked so explicitly by small states: How can a landlocked, fragile economy deliver global impact while honoring its unique ecological and cultural tapestry?
This ambition builds on Sikkim’s remarkable journey over the past two decades. From pioneering India’s organic farming revolution to becoming a pharmaceutical hub and a leader in sustainable development, the state has repeatedly shown how its unique geography and limitations can be turned into transformative strengths. The challenge now is to channel this legacy into addressing pressing contemporary needs such as unemployment, underemployment, and sustainable avenues for revenue generation.
Importantly, Sikkim’s growth targets will not be pursued in the abstract. The pathways are clear: wellness and nature-based tourism, biotechnology, renewable energy, and digital innovation sectors where Sikkim enjoys both ecological advantages and credibility. Together, these represent the building blocks for sustainable prosperity and inclusive job creation.
Inspiration from Global Examples: The Swiss Model
For inspiration, it is instructive to look toward Switzerland, a country that, 150 years ago, faced challenges remarkably similar to Sikkim’s. Switzerland in the 19th century was beset by geographic constraints, resource scarcity, and a deeply fragmented society. Instead of succumbing to these limitations, it engineered a remarkable turnaround—pivoting from agriculture to become the global gold standard for innovation and high-value industries by focusing on building world-class institutions.
Switzerland’s experience is illuminating not because Sikkim must become Switzerland, but because it shows how small states can leverage their identity, ecology, and human capital to create globally relevant value.
The Pillars of the Swiss Model: Institutions at the Heart of Transformation
Three structural choices undergird the Swiss success choices that have direct resonance for Sikkim’s ambitions:
1. Education as a Catalyst: The founding of ETH Zurich in 1855 was not merely an expansion of academia, but a deliberate move to tie research, education, and industry together. ETH became the epicenter of Swiss innovation, seeding Nobel laureates, hundreds of successful startups, and deeply influencing the country’s economic competitiveness and brand of global precision.
2. Apprenticeship and Systemic Employability: Switzerland’s famous dual education model, richly blending classroom theory with work-based apprenticeships, means that today, more than 70% of its youth choose this path. The result is one of Europe’s lowest youth unemployment rates, at just 2.1% in 2023, and a workforce that commands premium value on the global stage. By weaving industry needs into academic fabric, Switzerland ensured that talent was not only world-class but also grounded in the country’s practical needs.
3. Knowledge-Driven, Precision Industries: Turning away from commodity exports, Switzerland pioneered niche precision engineering, watchmaking, pharmaceuticals, finance, and hospitality where quality, reliability, and R&D investment matter most. The country invests 3.4% of GDP into research and has topped the Global Innovation Index for 13 consecutive years.
Switzerland’s “weaknesses” , small size, lack of resources, and mountainous terrain were alchemized into a distinctive national identity: agile, precise, innovative, and trusted around the globe.
The Sikkim Story: Punching Above Its Weight
Sikkim, India’s second-smallest state, spans just over 7,000 square kilometers with a population of around 650,000. But its credentials are striking:
● Literacy: 82%, comfortably above the national average.
● Income: Per capita income of ~₹5 lakh (~$6,000), comparable to middle-income countries like Vietnam.
● Green Leadership: The first in India to achieve 100% organic farming state-wide, with robust bans on chemicals and plastics.
● Tourism Magnet: 1.2 million+ annual visitors are drawn to its monasteries, biodiversity, and adventure tourism.
● Pharma Hub: Home to Sun Pharma, Cipla, Zydus Cadila, and others, with pharmaceuticals making up nearly 25% of GDP.
● Agri Exports: The world’s largest producer of large cardamom, exporting across Asia and Europe.
At the same time, the state faces very real constraints: limited connectivity and logistics, fragile mountain ecology, and a prevailing youth preference for government employment that strains state revenues. Far from weakening its case, these challenges strengthen the argument for a globally informed, regionally rooted framework. They demand a model that blends ecological stewardship with innovation, talent development with employability, and small-scale industries with global standards of trust and quality.
Turning Constraints into Capitals
As Switzerland shows, fragility and smallness can be strategic differentiators. When geography forces efficiency, innovation flourishes. When markets are small, quality is key. Green credentials and regulatory trust become magnets for investors interested in reliability and sustainability.
Sikkim’s Industrial & Investment Policy wisely leans into this logic, making clear that R&D, clean energy, knowledge industries, and innovation ecosystems should be at the heart of future growth. Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang encapsulated this ambition in a recent address:
“Our vision is to transform Sikkim into the first Green Capital of India, where sustainable industry and innovation coexist with ecological and cultural preservation. Sikkim must lead by example, not size.”
Equally, the state can future-proof its growth by embracing high-potential frontiers: the circular economy, longevity economy, digital traceability, and eco-certification systems all global markets where trust and sustainability command premium value.
Learning from Switzerland: Education as the Platform for Sikkim’s Future
A modern Sikkim can embrace a Switzerland-inspired playbook, adapted to its unique opportunities and assets:
1. Invest Relentlessly in Human Capital: Just as ETH Zurich was the Swiss nucleus for intellectual and industrial renewal, Sikkim must prioritize world-class higher education tied to research, local enterprise, and global needs. The policy’s proposed centres of excellence in biotech, green energy, and digital industry are essential. Partnerships with leading international universities and apprenticeship models would further close the employability gap. This approach is already materializing with the planned Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University, envisioned as a centre for global excellence that combines high-level research, real-world application, and international collaboration.
2. Build an Apprenticeship and Incubator Ecosystem: Adopting a “dual system” akin to Switzerland means giving youth from Sikkim and other North Eastern states a pathway to meaningful work in local industry and new-economy startups. Incubators should be woven into secondary and tertiary education, focusing on areas like circular economy, longevity economy, wellness, green tourism, and digital transformation—sectors where small teams can accomplish global outcomes.
3. Develop a Branded Education Hub of the East: By positioning itself as a global destination for specialized higher education and research aligned with ecological and socio-economic priorities, Sikkim can attract students, faculty, and partnerships that fuel both local empowerment and international recognition. Equally, by serving as a knowledge hub for the entire North-East, Sikkim can anchor regional talent, leverage policy instruments like NEIDS, and showcase how education, employment, and enterprise can form a seamless loop.
4. Target Knowledge and Trust Markets: With its proven “green” identity, pharmaceutical base, and tourism potential, Sikkim can target areas where trust, safety, and authenticity command premium value health, wellness, eco-products, and cultural tourism. R&D incentives and a focus on precision agriculture, green supply chains, and traceability can drive exports.
5. Anchor a Global Narrative: Switzerland’s reputation as the world’s neutral, high-quality, and innovative nation did not arise by accident; these qualities were meticulously cultivated. Sikkim, too, should propagate its own multi-layered story: a Switzerland of the East, a global gathering place for circular economy leaders, India’s longevity capital, and the Himalayan wellspring of wellness tourism and sustainable startups.
Shaping The Sikkim’s Story: The Audacity of Himalayan State
The world rarely expects small states to lead. But Switzerland, once “the vulnerable Alpine backwater,” rewrote this rule. Sikkim’s challenge is to channel this same audacity: to see fragility not as risk, but as fuel for reinvention; to translate small scale into quality, trust, and innovation; and to propel itself into the future not through imitation, but by boldly redefining what sustainable success means for the twenty-first century.
As the Chief Minister summed up:
“The scale of our aspiration may be Himalayan, but so is our resilience. Sikkim will show that even the smallest states can have the mightiest ambitions, and the discipline to realize them.”
Other small geographies are already reimagining themselves with bold visions: Gujarat has built GIFT City into a global financial hub, and Bhutan is advancing the Gelephu Mindfulness City as a new model for sustainable living. There is no reason why Sikkim, with its unique ecological capital and knowledge-driven potential, cannot carve out its own place on this global map of innovative small states.
By Nitin Jaiswal.
Views expressed in this article/opinion is of the author not of Sikkim Chronicle
