Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan must be a happy man today, as he bagged investment proposals worth Rs 2,35,736 crore from the two-day Khajuraho Global Investors Meet–II.
“The meet was successful. We will meet on October 27-28, 2012,” Chouhan said. He, however, could not quantify how much foreign investors would bring into the state. As many as 70 representatives from 17 countries participated in the event and 106 deals were signed. While Day-I witnessed 22 deals worth 1,20,637 crore, Day-II saw 84 deals worth 1,05,329 crore.
While 19 deals, worth Rs 1,33,050 crore, were signed in the power sector, seven deals, worth Rs 537 crore, were inked in the food processing sector. The summit saw two deals, worth Rs 400 crore, in the healthcare sector, while in new and renewable energy, four deals were signed for Rs 1,200 crore.
Region-wise, Bhopal-Indore led the pack, with investment proposals worth Rs 87,000 crore, followed by Vindhyachal (Rs 74,000 crore), Mahakaushal (Rs 32,000 crore), Bundelkhand (Rs 30,478 crore), and Gwalior (Rs 155 crore).
“My priority is to ensure job-oriented investments in the state, as I want industries to ensure at least 90 per cent jobs to local and 50 per cent mandatory for local. The state industry department will make sure that investment progress will take shape in accordance with the policy and review the progress at regular intervals,” Chouhan said. Arun Yadav, Minister of State for Heavy Industries, said, “The state has done a good job to showcase it.” He, however, said it was yet to be ascertained how many projects had come to the state from previous investors meet.
Chouhan hit back, saying: “The state defied even the recession, as it is evident from the figures that Rs 26,000-crore projects took shape last year, Rs 29,000 crore will reach completion by March 2010 and Rs 1,28,000-crore projects are taking shape.”