Its raining investments in Gujarat once again, thanks to Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011(VGS), the brainchild of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Sample this: the inaugural session of the biennial mega event alone saw investment announcements of around Rs1.96 lakh crore by the who’s who of India Inc., which is three times higher than the total investment pledged in the 2003 summit.
You name it and Gujarat had it today. Almost all the bigwigs of corporate India were present at the inaugural session of the two-day summit, which kicked off today at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, the state capital.
Industry stalwarts, who graced the event today include Ambani brothers-Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Sons, Chanda Kochhar MD and CEO, ICICI Bank, AM Naik, CMD, L&T, Ajit Gulabchand, CMD, HCC, Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group, Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej Group, GVK Reddy, chairman, GVK Group and Prashant Ruia, Group CEO, Essar to name a few.
The first corporate honcho to announce mega investment at the inaugural session was none other than Anil Ambani, who said his group would invest whopping Rs50,000 crore in the next five years for setting up gas and coal-based power projects as well as cement plants at Kutch, Porbandar and Junagadh. It may be mentioned here that Anil did not commit any significant investment in previous summit held in 2009.
The Ahmedabad-based billionaire Gautam Adani revealed that the Adani Group would pump in a staggering Rs80,000 crore in ports and power sectors. Adani Group is also planning to construct two new ports at Hazira and Dholera.
Essar Group today committed Rs30,000 crore investments for various sectors such as power, refining, ports and water infrastructure. Ajit Gulabchand, chairman, HCC, announced investment plans of Rs12,000 crore for renewable energy park at Dholera, while Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd said his company would be signing 6 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Gujarat government for various projects to the tune of Rs3000 crore. However, Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata did not announce any significant investment plans. The industry chieftains present in the summit were all praise for Gujarat chief minister for organising the summit and making Gujarat an investor friendly state. Impressed by the initiatives taken by Gujarat government, Anil Ambani said, “Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation and my father late Dhirubhai Ambani, father of entrepreneurship in India, created enormous wealth to the nation. Narendrabhai is the third individual, who has brought the greatest change in India in last decade.”Ratan Tata also made it clear that Tata Group would continue to invest in Gujarat. “He (Modi) is no longer looking at investments only. He is also looking at advancements of rural communities and their health and wealth,” said Tata advising corporate world that companies should look to give back to Gujarat and the people of Gujarat. Mukesh Ambani has so far attended all the Vibrant Summits. Praising Modi for his exemplary leardership, Mukesh Ambani termed the Vibrant Summit as the best gift one can give to Gujarat and said, “I am very pleased to be a part of this development (of Gujarat) and I am delighted to be here again.”
“The world looks at India for the global growth, while India looks at Gujarat for growth,” said Chanda Kocchar of ICICI Bank. She added that ICICI Bank was inking an agreement for extending finances for the growth of Gujarat. Anand Mahindra described Gujarat as mega economy in India. “You (Modi) were telling us to make investments in Gujarat. After today’s investment announcement by us (M&M), you will be happy with us.”
