Tourism Ministry examining proposal to set up Investment Desk

Union Tourism Ministry is "examining" a proposal from Invest India to set up an Investment Desk at the Tourism Ministry for project monitoring and follow up actions.

"Invest India has given us an offer to set up an invest desk. We are examining the proposal and looking into the modalities. With the investment desk in place in the Tourism ministry, we will continue not only conceiving various projects and organising meetings (with states and potential investors) but also hand-hold the state and see that things get culminated into actual projects," Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi told reporters told here.

He was interacting with media on the eve of the first Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit, which will inaugurated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tomorrow.
 

Invest India is a not-for-profit joint venture between the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, state governments and industry body Ficci.

The three-day first-of-its kind summit, is being organised in association with industry body CII and Tourism Finance Corporation of India. It is expected to attract investments to the tune of over Rs 50,000 crore from around 700 investable projects.

Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, Civil Aviation Minister Ahok Gajapathi Raju, Chief Ministers and Tourism Ministers of a states will also participate in the mega investors summit.

Besides, the Summit would also see as many as 3,000 B2B (business-to-business) and B2G (business-to-Government) meetings, Zutshi said.

Some 250 investors from across the globe including those from China, Dubai, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Singapore, among others, are expected to discuss various investment proposals during the event.

Zutshi said that the investment desk would have some 4-5 people drawn from the industry and institutes like IIMs and IITs and they will work under the Tourism ministry in consultation with Invest India.

"These people will develop the cell (desk) in a manner that all the project, which are received during the summit, are followed up and taken to logical conclusion. It will be a continuous exercise of generating investable projects on side and looking for domestic and international potential investors on the other side," he said.