Corporates commit Rs 35,000-cr investment to Uttar Pradesh

Essel Group, Reliance Jio and Fortis among key names to line up investment in UP's investor conclave

In a boost to the Akhilesh Yadav government’s industrialisation drive, around 20 companies on Thursday promised to invest Rs 35,000 crore in multiple sectors in Uttar Pradesh.

Representatives from 100 companies and seven countries participated in the first UP investor conclave held here. For comparison, about 1,000 companies and 50 countries participated in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2013, the biennial event organised by the state government. In 2009, the Gujarat investor summit witnessed investment commitment worth Rs 12 lakh crore.

The Samajwadi Party government has been facing flak over a weak law-and-order situation, in the wake of recent rapes. Through the summit, the chief minister tried to send a positive signal to investors. “The huge investment commitment shows the way for the next phase of growth in Uttar Pradesh,” Yadav said. “I promise I will meet each one of you personally to resolve issues like clearances.”

The largest investment commitment of Rs 20,000 crore came from Essel Group, which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government for setting up urban development, power distribution and solar power projects.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), signed a pact for rolling out 4G broadband services for Rs 5,000 crore in the state. Kolkata-headquartered ITC Ltd promised Rs 2,100 crore for setting up projects in multiple sectors; private university Amity signed a pact for establishing an educational complex in Kanpur for Rs 2,000 crore; Fortis Healthcare committed Rs 800 crore for a super-speciality hospital each at Kanpur, Lucknow and Greater Noida; and Sonalika Tractors promised Rs 200 crore investment for setting up a manufacturing facility.

Besides, River Engineering (Rs 350 crore), Uflex Industries (Rs 4,000 crore), JVL Agro (Rs 2,200 crore), Shree cement (Rs 550 crore), Azure Power (Rs 800 crore), Kribhco (Rs 150 crore), Ultra Fairwood (Rs 220 crore), UP Food and Logistics (Rs 600 crore), Duncan Goenka (Rs 100 crore) and Samprash Food (Rs 60 crore) also signed MoUs.

In addition, Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital announced a Rs 2,000-crore investment plan for a medical city.

The state government made a presentation about investment opportunities with special focus on food processing, agriculture, infrastructure and industry, and information technology sectors. Later, Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan enlisted the state’s advantages, including its 200 million population; natural resource availability in the agriculture sector and high farm production. “We have created an enabling policy environment, including the Infrastructure and Industrial Investment Policy apart from sector-specific policies for solar and handicrafts sectors and single-window clearance,” he said.

The conclave was attended by Amity's Chairman Emeritus Ashok Chauhan; Reliance Jio chairman Mahendra Nahata; Samsung India Deputy Managing Director Ravinder Zutshi,; HP India Vice President Rajiv Srivastava; Fortis President Daljit Singh; Sonalika Tractors Chairman L D Mittal and Kribhco Managing Director V P Kaushik among others.

A few corporate leaders delivering planned speeches praised Yadav for providing what they called a hassle-free business environment. The mood among the audience, however, was one of caution. "The list of sectors where investment has been committed today - health, education or alternate energy --are basic economic areas where investment will come in any way. Why are there no investors from core sectors like auto?" said an executive who did not wish to be quoted.

After the CM's closed-door meetings with specific companies, state secretaries from across departments engaged on one-on-one interactions with firms from various sectors during the conclave. Similar events will be organized by UP in Mumbai later this year and in Agra next year.