Leading industrial houses on Monday praised the Gujarat government, saying 72 per cent of the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed at the last Vibrant Gujarat Summit had been implemented or were being executed.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and groups such as Essar, Adani, Torrent, Zydus and Welspun reiterated at the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries they would invest in the state.
Houses that have significant investments in the state said Gujarat’s track record on project implementation was very good.
Sources said Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had met industry captains in Gandhinagar on December 22.
Parimal Nathwani, group president, corporate affairs, RIL, said there was speculation on the investment commitment, how much of it was realised, the number of jobs created locally, and the way in which the exchequer benefited.
He said RIL had committed an investment of Rs 2.37 lakh crore in Gujarat. “We have spent Rs 92,000 crore, and the remaining is work in progress,” he said.
More than 52,000 permanent employees work in various RIL projects in Gujarat at places such as Hazira, Dahej, Naroda, Vadodara and others. The 52,000 include around 6,000 people in the recent telecom venture Jio.
Pranav Adani, managing director, Agro, and Oil & Gas, Adani Group, said his Group had implemented projects worth Rs 50,000 crore. “Most of our projects have either been implemented or are under various stages of implementation. We are very happy with the support we are getting,” he said.
Pankaj R Patel, chairman and managing director, Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila), who has been appointed president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) for 2017, said such sessions were helpful in creating opportunities. His group has invested Rs 750 crore in a new biotech facility, apart from putting in money in a parenteral drugs facility in Vadodara and an active pharmaceuticals ingredient facility here.
Patel said: “We have committed ourselves to building a medical school and hospital, along with Gujarat Cancer Society, and a 750-bed project for the poor is operational.”
Rajiv Agarwal, chief executive officer and managing director of Essar Ports Ltd, said around 80 per cent of his group’s investment was in Gujarat. “We have signed MoUs worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore, of which around Rs 80,000 crore has been invested and more is lined up in the ports, power, refinery sectors,” he said.
Talking of the state’s investor-friendly atmosphere, Agarwal said Essar employed 25,000-30,000 here.
Torrent Group, which has interests in power and pharma, has been signing MoUs since the first edition of the summit in 2003. Group executive director said it committed an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore in the last two editions of the summit.
Chintan Thacker, head, corporate affairs and strategic planning, of Welspun Group, said the conglomerate had signed MoUs worth Rs 13,000 crore in the last two editions of the summit, and a majority of them had been executed.
Firms in India and abroad had committed an investment of Rs 25 lakh crore at the last Summit and signed 21,000 deals in 2015. The amount pledged was more than double the Rs 12 lakh crore promised at the 2013 edition of the summit.
Of the 21,304 MoUs signed during the 2015 edition summit, 12,670 have been commissioned, and around 2,731 are under implementation.
As for the 2013 edition, 17,719 MoUs were signed, and of those 10,770 have been commissioned, 690 are being implemented and 690 are under preliminary consideration.
