We all know how Narendra Modi welcomed the Tata Group to set up a commercial production unit for Nano in Sanand near Ahmedabad; after a violent Singur protests forced closure of their automobile factory in West Bengal.
This investment opportunity worth Rs. 2000 crore was promptly spotted by the Gujarat Chief Minister Mr. Modi and is now being hailed as the fastest executed project in the history of the Tata Group, built in a record 14 months. That’s the reason as to why Gujarat attracts the cream of Indian industry to come together for the ‘Vibrant Gujarat Summit’.
The on-going 5th edition of Vibrant Gujarat 2011 is no different. The summit has seen most of the top names of the Indian industry – be it Ambani brothers, Ratan Tata, Adi Godrej, A M Naik, Uday Kotak, Chanda Kochhar or Anand Mahindra – lined up to pledge investments in the growth-friendly state of Gujarat.
This biggest deal-making jamboree of India, which would pale down even the glory of the recently concluded IPL player’s auction, saw 2766 MoUs for projects worth Rs.15 lakh crore being signed on the first of the two-day event held at Gandhinagar. Out of these, about 20% of the investments would entail in the power sector projects, 12% in the financial sector and 9% in mines and minerals.
To put things in perspective, the pledge for this staggering investments notched on the very first day of the investor’s summit was far higher than the total investments (Rs. 12 lakh crore) promised in previous edition of Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in 2009.
On the eve of the grand event, Narendra Modi said,
“Vibrant Gujarat started as an investment summit. It has now graduated to a much larger scale – from industrial development to inclusive growth. Our larger objective is global networking, knowledge and technology sharing.”
Key Highlights of Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011
- Starting with the Gujarat’s home-grown Adani Group, Gautam Adani showed interest in investing Rs. 80, 000 crore in ports, power and infrastructure projects.
- Reliance Industries proposes Rs. 50,000 crore worth of investments in green-field and brown-field projects. Sources suggest that Mukesh Ambani may also be interested in coming up with a new super specialty chemicals unit at Dahej.
- Anil Ambani-led ADAG will also invest Rs. 50,000 crore in Gujarat in next 5-7 years on various projects spanning from power plants to cement sector.
- The creator of Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea-link, HCC, has evinced interest to invest Rs. 1200 crore to set up renewable energy project in Gujarat in next 2-5 years.
- Binani Cement has signed a MoU with the Gujarat government to set up 610-MV thermal power plant and a 5 mpta cement making facility at an investment of Rs.4200 crore.
- Ratan Tata has expressed interest in partnering with the state in providing transportation deep into the rural areas. The company already has a total investments in excess of Rs. 30,000 crore in Gujarat.
- On the 2nd day of the Summit, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India announced the setting up of 7 new club Mahindra resorts in Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs. 210 crore.
On the last day of the Summit, the education sector in Gujarat has attracted a whopping Rs. 10,000 crores worth of investments entailing more than 90 MoUs. Less than half of these memorandums were signed in higher education segment.
For sure, these Vibrant Gujarat Summits serve as role models for other states to emulate.