MP Global Investors Summit: Industry pledges Rs 6.79 lakh-cr investment

The fourth Global Investors Summit in Madhya Pradesh concluded on Friday with a bevy of central ministries and representatives of India Inc committing more investments in the state in the next few years, taking the total promised investments to Rs 6.79 lakh crore (about $100 billion).

According to state government estimates, industry has expressed an intention to invest more than Rs 6.79 lakh crore during the three-day event. Of this, India Inc made announcements worth over Rs 1,00,000 crore on Thursday.

"The total worth Rs 6.79 lakh crore were either committed or announced during the three-day summit, which comprised both the private sector and state-run entities. The highest was from domestic companies," Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told reporters.

ON THE SIDELINES

• BJP and Congress missed no opportunity to take potshots at each other. Union minister Ananth Kumar criticised the previous Manmohan Singh government for following a closed-door policy on investments in BJP-ruled states like MP was concerned. He said the Digvijaya Singh-led government in MP had followed a ‘no-door’ policy
• Jaypee Group Chairman J P Gaur got the loudest round of applause. His rather long speech was peppered with anecdotal evidences from his life, which kept the audience spellbound

The central ministers, who participated in the concluding session, included Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Fertiliser and Chemicals Minister Ananth Kumar, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Power Minister Piyush Goel, Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the event on Thursday.

 

To fast-track implementation of the promises, a monthly monitoring mechanism will be established and a time-bound road map for the execution of the same will be started, said Chouhan.

"Personally, I will devote the first half of every Monday for investors. For every big project, the state government will appoint an investment manager who will handhold the entrepreneur to clear all possible blocks," Chouhan said.

He said the state government had consciously decided not to sign any memorandum of understanding (MoU) with investors but will follow up their intentions expressed through the official website.

"The summit was meant to brand Madhya Pradesh and not just to sign MoUs. We believe we have successfully managed to do that," Chouhan said.

He said the next summit will be held in Indore on October 19-21, 2016.

The central ministers announced a slew of investments for the state.

A central gas grid will be established by GAIL with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore and a Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region will be started alongside the Bina Refinery with an investment of Rs 1,00,000 crore. The refinery will be expanded with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore.

In the power sector, NTPC is in the process of expanding installed capacity by 4,760 Mw with an investment of Rs 75,000 crore, to be completed in the next three-four years.

"NTPC will also invest in building toilets in the state as part of its corporate social responsibility," power minister Goel said.

Sitharaman said the Peethampur-Dhar-Mhow region, part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, is poised to be the most profitable in the entire corridor.

"The kind of appeal Madhya Pradesh is having among investors, both domestic and foreign, can be judged from the fact that in 2013-14, the Reserve Bank of India's Bhopal division registered an absolute inflow in foreign equity worth $119 million, while in 2014-15, till July, has crossed $100 million," Sitharaman said.