Eyeing business opportunities, US firms meet Yogi Adityanath

Azure, which has invested about Rs 500 crore in India so far, has committed to increasing investment to almost Rs 2,500 cr now

A US delegation, consisting of business leaders and representatives from top blue-chip companies, called on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday to explore investment opportunities in the state.

The delegation was in the city under the aegis of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and had the representation of marquee US firms, including Boeing, Adobe, Facebook, Uber, Honeywell, Coca Cola, Mastercard, P&G, Oracle, GE Health, Monsanto, Medtronic, and Azure.

Talking to media persons after the meeting, UP’s Health Minister and Spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh said the US industry captains were bullish on the UP story under the Yogi regime and were ready to invest in diverse sectors like health, information technology (IT), infrastructure, and aviation.

He said Boeing had evinced interest in setting up maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) infrastructure at the state’s airports.

Azure, which has invested about Rs 500 crore in India so far, has committed to increasing the investment to almost Rs 2,500 crore now, he added. Taxi aggregator Uber also wants to expand its operations in the state.

“US industry captains are looking to invest in UP and do not want to wait any further. They acknowledged UP is a changed state now and ideal destination for investment,” he said, adding that the state government had assured all facilities to the US companies.

Medical equipment maker Medtronic has given a proposal on its investment plans, Singh said. “The state government would set up a monitoring cell in the chief minister’s office, which would monitor all the investment flowing from US companies,” the minister said.

Besides, the state government also highlighted its flagship projects before the US business delegation, including the proposed Purvanchal and Bundelkhand expressways, which are likely to be launched in the next couple of months. Singh said the government had assured US firms of providing single-window clearance of investment proposals. “The chief minister thanked the US business leaders for evincing interest in UP,” he said.

Focusing on tourism, Singh said, “There is immense scope of development of tourism in UP, and investors can invest in significant quantity in this sector. Every region of the state is known as a tourist destination, but owing to non-holistic development of the tourist spots, they are lying ignored. The government using its own limited resources is focusing on their development”.