Fully committed to investing in Maharashtra: Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal

Vedanta is fully committed to investing in Maharashtra, chairman Anil Agarwal, tweeted on Wednesday, amid a political brouhaha over Gujarat pipping the state to bag a $20-billion investment.

On Tuesday, Vedanta announced that the Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor plant would be set up in Gujarat. It signed two memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with the Gujarat government to set up a semiconductor fab unit, a display fab unit, and a semiconductor assembling and testing unit entailing an investment of Rs 1.54 trillion and employment to around 100,000 people.

In a series of tweets late on Wednesday, Agarwal said that the investments in semiconductor and display glass production would create an ecosystem of industries across the country. “We are committed to investing in Maharashtra. We will soon create a hub where Maharashtra will be part of our forward integration.”

He also said that Vedanta-Foxconn had been engaging in dialogue with state governments for the last two years and hope to continue the conversations for the growth of the country in the years to come.

The assurances came on the back of a political controversy sparked by the MoUs with the Gujarat government. The Opposition in Maharashtra blamed the Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis-led government for losing the project to Gujarat.

However, through his tweets, Agarwal explained that Vedanta-Foxconn had been professionally assessing sites for the multi-billion dollar investment.

“This is a scientific and financial process which takes several years. We started this about 2 years ago.”

“Our team of internal and external professional agencies shortlisted few states viz., Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, TN etc to help achieve our purpose. For last 2 years we have been engaging with each of these governments as well as central government and have received fantastic support.”

Agarwal said that Gujarat met expectations and the decision was made a few months ago. “But in July meeting with Maharashtra leadership, they made a huge effort to outbid other states with a competitive offer.”

“We have to start in one place & based on professional & independent advice we chose Gujarat. This multi-billion dollar long-term investment will change the course of Indian electronics. We will create a pan-India ecosystem and we are fully committed to investing in Maharashtra as well. Maharashtra will be our key to forward integration in our Gujarat JV."