The Hindu Business Line : Team Gujarat to fan out to woo investors globally

Enthused by the recent success in bringing Tata Motors’ Nano car project to the State, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, his ministerial colleagues, bureaucrats, industrialists and businessmen are planning to fan out to woo investors from across the globe in the next few weeks, leading to the “Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit 2009.”

Scheduled to be held at Science City, Ahmedabad, on January 12 and 13 next year, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is partnering the State Government for this biennial mega business event. As part of efforts to attract investments, a delegation led by the Minister of State for Industry and Petrochemicals, Mr Saurabh Patel, will meet top industry leaders in Chennai on October 21 in which more than 150 people have been invited, including top corporate bodies, and heads of PSUs and MNCs. The delegation will brief the companies about the investment potential in the State and the competitive advantages that Gujarat offers to the investors.

Mr Modi, who was scheduled to visit Kolkata later this month to attract more investors, had to, however, change his plans in view of the Assembly elections in five States, where he would be a star campaigner, sources said here on Saturday. He is also likely to visit Africa in December, even as a number of teams from Gujarat are preparing to leave for foreign shores after Diwali in a bid to attract investors.

The three Vibrant Gujarat Summits held so far since 2003 have attracted several industrial majors from Asia and Europe to implement their investment plans in Gujarat, ranked first by the RBI accounting for a share of 22 per cent of total investment in India. The three events led to the signing of MoUs worth more than Rs 6 lakh crore, a significant part of which was converted into actual investment. A number of projects undertaken are in various stages of implementation.

SECTORS ON SPOTLIGHT

The focus sectors for the 2009 Summit have been identified as engineering and automobile, mineral-based industries, textiles and apparel, tourism, ports, chemicals and petrochemicals, information technology, biotechnology, oil and gas, power, urban infrastructure, gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, food and agri-related businesses. A promotion drive focusing on gems and jewellery for global diamond industries would be held in December 2008, prior to the event, Mr Modi said at a meeting in New Delhi on October 17.

SPECIAL INVESTMENT REGION

“We are now moving from the concept of SEZ to SIR (Special Investment Region).” In order to ensure that the industrial growth does not take place through haphazard development, Gujarat has identified select regions keeping in mind the existing industries, future potential and possible infrastructure development.

The industrial belts in Gujarat that will take shape along the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) under the two sanctioned SIRs and six logistic support areas will cover Mehsana, Palanpur, Ahmedabad, Dholera and Vadodara, which will emerge as major destinations for Indian and foreign investment. There will be 265 estates and clusters along the Gujarat SIR. Some Japanese companies have evinced interest in the Gujarat SIR or investments.

Gujarat is, perhaps, the first State in India to attract more than 70 diplomats, including 40 Ambassadors, to a dinner meeting with Mr Modi in New Delhi last week. On his invitation, ambassadors from China, Japan, Russia, Canada, Egypt, Switzerland, Pakistan, Greece and Germany, among others, participated in this meet. Mr Modi invited them to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat meet and urged them to organise a visit of business leaders from their nations.

SEZ APPROVALS

Speaking on SEZs, he said 55 SEZs have been approved in the State so far. About DMIC, Mr Modi said 38 per cent of the total length of these corridors falls in Gujarat. As a part of this, six industrial nodes have been proposed for the state, which is expected to generate an investment of about $100 billion and provide employment to eight lakh people.

He also apprised that Gujarat International Finance Tech City (GIFT) is being set up between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar with an estimated capital outlay of Rs 1,500 crore on 500 acres of land with IT infrastructure and land mark buildings.

“We aim to make GIFT an international commercial and financial hub like New York and Frankfurt.”

The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by May 2010, when Gujarat celebrates its golden jubilee.

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