Davos, where the world’s rich and famous converge every year to discuss global economic issues, is set to have some serious competition.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, whom leading industrialists such as Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal want to see as the future prime minister of the country, wants to project the next Vibrant Gujarat summit to be held in 2011 as “Davos in Action”.
Taking a subtle dig at the World Economic Forum’s annual event, Modi says Davos provides a platform for “intellectual deliberations” on the world economy, but Vibrant Gujarat will see real action and give a new direction to the country’s investment landscape.
Vibrant Gujarat, which is held every two years, was so far aimed at attracting investment to Gujarat only. The next event will go beyond and become a forum for investments across the globe. “For instance, if Sri Lanka prefers to invest in Nepal, they can come to Gujarat to commit to one another. We will provide a platform for the whole globe in the next summit,” Modi says.
It’s easy to figure out the reason for Modi’s soaring ambition. Vibrant Gujarat 2009, which ended yesterday, saw investment commitments to the tune of $240 billion, or Rs 12 lakh crore, which is 30 per cent more than the country’s gross fixed capital formation in the first half of the current fiscal. The total MoUs signed in the previous three such summits saw total investment commitments of $185 billion (Rs 6.5 lakh crore).
Not everyone is impressed with these figures as doubts have been expressed over the conversion rate of these commitments. The Congress, which is the main opposition party in the state, says Vibrant Gujarat is too much of hype as the conversion rate is only 25 per cent.
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The state government predictably trashes this. Around 60 per cent of investment commitments have actually come, officials say. If these numbers are correct, it’s a significant achievement by any yardstick. And industrialists say there are solid reasons for this enthusiasm, one of them being the state’s ability to execute projects in double-quick time.
In his speech on the opening day, Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata said, “States usually take 90-180 days to give clearances for land and other issues. When we were in the process of moving our Nano project to Gujarat, the state government gave us the clearances in just three days. It has never happened before.”
The leading lights of Indian industry — Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia, Anand Mahindra, Tulsi Tanti etc. — who were present seem to agree, going by the fact that each of them committed mega investments in the state.
| MONEY SPINNERS Some of the major sectors that attracted investment commitments | |
| Infrastructure | Rs 2.09 lakh crore |
| Power | Rs 2.03 lakh crore |
| Urban Development | Rs 1.02 lakh crore |
| Ports & shipbuilding | Rs 96,000 crore |
| SEZs | Rs 77,248 crore |
| Oil & gas | Rs 75,358 crore |
| Banking & SME | Rs 70,000 crore |
| Information technology | Rs 46,007 crore |
| Auto & Engg | Rs 40,000 crore |
| Agri & food | Rs 35,276 crore |
Vibrant Gujarat was also a personal victory of sorts for Modi. For the summit saw the world opening up to the state, which had slid in the world’s view after the 2002 riots. While Japan was a partner to the two-day Summit, the event saw participation from over 40 countries, including Germany, Spain, Italy, the US, the UK, Canada, France, Kenya, Uganda and Sri Lanka.
In December, over 110 MPs passed an early-day motion in UK’s House of Commons to support the summit. And this was for the brainchild of a man who was in 2005 denied a diplomatic visa to visit that country because of the post-Godhra riots slur.
The first day of the event saw investments to the tune of Rs 7.5 lakh crore in sectors such as non-conventional energy, ports and shipping, special investment regions, power, oil and gas, petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment regions and SEZs.