Adityanath invokes 'dinner diplomacy' before launch of mega projects

Top industrialists invited for 'power dinner' to be hosted by CM tonight

On the eve of the mega ‘ground breaking ceremony’ to launch industrial projects worth Rs 65,000 crore, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will host a ‘power dinner’ tonight for some of country’s top industrialists and industry captains.

The dinner, to be hosted at CM’s official residence of 5, Kalidas Marg in Lucknow, will witness the likes of HCL Group founder Shiv Nadar, realty major Lulu Group chairman Yusuf Ali, Pepsico India chief Ahmed El Sheikh, Samsung Electronics Southwest Asia president & CEO H C Hong, Shishir Bajaj, Medanta Group founder Naresh Trehan, Sharad Jaipuria among others.

Bollywood personalities, including Boney Kapoor, are also on the list of invitees to the dinner, according to the state government sources here.

The dinner diplomacy is aimed at fostering confidence among investors about the pro-industry agenda of the state government, apart from giving an opportunity to industrialists to offer suggestions and feedback about policies in an informal setting.

While, some top business leaders have already arrived in the state capital, others, including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Anand Mahindra, Sanjiv Puri, N Chandrasekaran, Sudhir Mehta etc are expected to arrive tomorrow for the big ticket event, which would be inaugurated by union home minister Amit Shah.

A total of 292 projects worth more than Rs 65,000 crore would witness their foundation laying at the hands of Shah. The event would also be addressed by a few industrialists, who will share their experience of working with the Adityanath regime.

The projects span different sectors, including agriculture, tourism, micro small & medium enterprises (MSME), excise, healthcare, power, textile, urban development, science & technology, green energy etc. Nearly 54% of these projects pertain to Western UP, followed by 19% in Central UP, 13% in Eastern UP, 4% in Bundelkhand, while about 10% of the projects have a multiple territory footprint.

These projects are part of the Rs 4.68 trillion worth of 1,047 memorandums of understanding (MoU) signed by the Adityanath government with public and private sector companies at the ‘UP Investors Summit’ in Lucknow on 21-22 February, 2018. The summit was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of top industrialists, including Mukesh Ambani, Birla, Adani among others.

On July 29, 2018, Modi had presided over the first ‘ground breaking ceremony’, in which foundation of projects worth over Rs 60,000 crore was laid. He had exhorted UP and Maharashtra to compete for emerging as India’s first $ trillion state economy.

The second ‘ground breaking ceremony’ was earlier planned to be held last year. However, it got delayed multiple times owing to reasons like land acquisition and clearances roadblocks.

According to the Adityanath government, projects worth almost Rs 30,000 crore, whose foundation was laid at the first ‘ground breaking ceremony’, had already fructified, while the remaining projects were also fast nearing completion.