Gujarat ropes in several corporates to sponsor Navratri '04

The expenses for Vibrant Gujarat-2004, promoted by the state government for giving boost to tourism, will not be borne by a single corporate house this year.

Unlike the past two mega events, Vibrant Gujarat 2003 - Global Investors Summit and Vibrant Gujarat - Pravasi Patang Utsav, that were sponsored by corporate majors Reliance Industries and Essar, this year's Vibrant Gujarat - Navratri 2004 will have contributions from over a dozen corporates having base in Gujarat.

For the past two years, the state government has initiated the 'Vibrant Gujarat' campaign showcasing the state and seeking investment from the non-resident Indians (NRIs) and non-resident Gujaratis (NRGs).

The Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL) will act as the nodal agency for organising Navratri 2004, which is being organised in different parts of the state from October 14 to 22.

The corporates roped in by the government this year include the Torrent group, Nirma, Adani group, Aditya Birla group, Gujarat Ambuja, British Gas, Sanghi Industries, apart from Reliance and Essar, among others.

"This year too, we are organising the mega event Vibrant Gujarat - Navratri 2004 with the help of private sector. The quantum of investment will be equal to last year's investment, however, the exact amount of investment will only be known after the event," said D Rajagopalan, principal secretary, Gujarat.

Reliance was roped in as the official sponsor of the Navratri festival last year, which was showcased for the Indian community and other foreign invitees just ahead of 'Vibrant Gujarat - Global Investors' Summit-2003. Reliance had to cough up around Rs 10 crore to sponsor the event.

Similarly, Essar had been assigned the task of sponsoring the `Pravasi Patang Utsav', a mega exercise of the state government aimed at targetting the NRIs and NRGs to invest in Gujarat. It was held to coincide with Uttarayan, the kite festival, which is a hugely popular festival in Gujarat.

According to sources, Essar spent between Rs 5-10 crore for the Pravasi Patang Utsav- 2004' event held in January this year, that saw presence of around 6,000 invitees.

The government has sought the services of Grey Worldwide for publicising 'Vibrant Gujarat - Navratri 2004'. Grey Worldwide also was in charge of the publicity for the Vibrant Gujarat-Global Investors' Summit 2003 and Pravasi Patang Utsav- 2004' held in January.

"Yes, we are doing the mass media campaign for advertising 'Vibrant Gujarat - Navratri 2004. We are advertising through the medium of print, electronic and magazines," said Pankaj Madholkar, vice-president of Grey Worldwide, without disclosing the financial aspects of the deal.

Percept has been assigned to handle the printing of brochures, booklets, banners, hoardings and the likes.

However, according to sources, the state government will be spending around Rs two crore for publicising the entire nine-day event, while last year it spent Rs 67 lakh alone on mass media campaign for publicising the three-day Vibrant Gujarat-Global Investors' Summit 2003.