Gujarat tops investment chart

Gujarat has emerged as the country's top investment destination with investments worth Rs 93,927 crore in 3,791 approved projects between 1991 and September 2003.

In 2003 alone the state attracted investments of Rs 22,781 crore in 345 approved projects, accounting for 19.21 per cent of the country's total investment, followed by Andhra Pradesh with investments of Rs 16,298 crore in 250 approved projects, accounting for 13.74 per cent of the total investments in the country.

Nagaland is third in terms of attracting investments. With just two approved projects, the state has attracted investments of Rs 16,010 crore, followed by Chhatisgarh with investments of Rs 13,614 crore in 198 approved projects.

Even Orissa has attracted investments of Rs 12,984 crore in 142 approved projects in 2003. "With all this investments coming in a steady way, we are confident of achieving a 10.8 per cent growth at the end of this year," said Chandan Chatterjee, general manager (projects), Industrial Extension Bureau (IndexTb), a state government organisation working under the state industries department.

The gross state domestic product growth in Gujarat between 1992 and 2002 has been 8.2 per cent, which is the highest among any other state in the country followed by Maharashtra at 6.8 per cent, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka at 6.7 per cent each, and Kerala at 6.1 per cent.

"Gujarat is poised to be the leader in not only in India but also among the Asian tigers. Our competition is not just with other Indian states but at the international level also," said Anil Patel, minister of state for industries. According to the Director General of the Labour Bureau, Shimla, in 2000 Gujarat has the least mandays lost among all states in the country.

Gujarat lost 6.18 lakh man days during the period compared with West Bengal at 1.057 crore, Andhra Pradesh at 43.85 lakh, Tamil Nadu at 25.88 lakh, Maharashtra at 17.55 lakh, and Kerala at 14.98 lakh.

According to the National Informative Centre (NIC), New Delhi, Gujarat even leads in implementation of projects and investments in leading industrial states of the country between August 1991 and September 2003, apart from the Rs 66,000 crore investments during the Vibrant Gujarat-Global Investors Meet, 2003.

NIC figures reflect that Gujarat has attracted investments of Rs 3,34,89 crore for 93.6 lakh projects, followed by Maharashtra, which attracted Rs 2,72,59 crore in 85 lakh projects and Andhra Pradesh with Rs 13,888 crore between August 1991 and September 2003.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy review of December 2003, the ongoing and outstanding investments in the manufacturing sector in Gujarat from October 2002 to October 2003, which includes announced, proposed and under implementation projects, shows an increasing trend.

The number of projects in October 2002 was 19 lakh attracting Rs 26,430 crore of investments, while in October 2003 the number of projects has gone up to 26.7 lakh attracting Rs 35,248 crore of investments.