MP: Signs of looking up

Most of the investment in MP that took shape in 2006 went into expanding some of the existing units.

In the Rs 1 lakh crore investment claimed by Industry Minister Babulal Gaur, the following projects have started taking shape: the Bina refinery (Rs 10,000 crore), the Vardhman Group's composite textile mill at Budni and Satlapur (Rs 711 crore and Rs 650 crore), Force Motors (Rs 264 crore, may go up to Rs 700 crore), BHEL (Rs 227 crore), Malanpur Captive Power Pvt Ltd (Rs 105 crore), Hotline Glass Ltd (Rs 300 crore), Grasim Industries of Nagda (two units, Rs 95 crore and Rs 55 crore), Caparo Engg (Rs 80 crore), Universal Cables (Rs 63 crore), Eicher Motors (Rs 57 crore), India Nets (Rs 55 crore), Parakh Foods (Rs 47 crore), Kant Biscuits (Rs 29 crore), Auto Testing Track (Rs 500 crore), Gail India (Rs 276 crore) and MSK India (Rs 80 crore), and Pithampur Auto Cluster Ltd (Rs 70 crore).

Despite having India's first operational special economic zone (SEZ) in Indore, due to inordinate delay in the privatisation of the SEZ and getting up its second phase, corporate houses are still shying away from making investment.

The state got its first big investment after 1996-97 in 2006, when SP Oswal-promoted Anant Spinning Mills decided to set up two textiles mills in Budni and Satlapur (Mandideep, Phase II). In 1996-97 Eicher Tractors set up its plant in Mandideep.

"We entered Madhya Pradesh in 1990 and started an export-oriented unit that produces yarn. After the removal of the quota regime, we planned to set up a unit. Since we needed a huge land area, water and manpower, Madhya Pradesh was the best option. We are now going to set up a composite textile mill in Budni, where plenty of water is available from the Narmada River," said D L Sharma, executive director, Vardhman group.

"A huge land area of 400 acres is not available in Punjab and so we planned to invest in Madhya Pradesh," he said. The Satlapur unit of the company, with a capacity of 15,000 spindles, will start soon.

Despite poor infrastructure and the limited skilled workers, Madhya Pradesh is still the best option in view of growing cost pressure, particularly in the service sector, in hiring people and acquiring land.

But land is not easily available in prime locations in the two main cities of Bhopal and Indore.