MP draws investment proposals from Reliance, ITC and other groups

Corporate biggies like Reliance Industries, ITC and Godrej group among others on Friday announced a major investment and expansion plans in Madhya Pradesh as the Congress-ruled state seeks to grow faster.

Among the major announcements at the Kamal Nath led government's maiden investor summit --Magnificent MP--include an announcement by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani to set up national distribution centres, with over 10 million square feet of space across 45 locations in the state.

The company, which has over 600 retail stores and 100 petrol pumps in the state, is planning to more than double them over the next few years, Ambani said in a recorded message.

Reliance is among the largest investors in the state, having pumped in over Rs 20,000 crore in the last few years, he said, without giving details.

FMCG major, ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri announced a Rs 700-crore food park in the state, which will have a large facility for dehydrating vegetables such as beans and carrots.

Adi Godrej said Godrej group, which has been operating in the state for several years, committed to continue to be a steadfast investor in the state.

Sun Pharmas Dilip Shanghvi, said over last few years the company has invested close to Rs 500 crore in the state and is looking at expanding its facilities at Dewas and Malanpur.

India Cements vice-chairman and managing director N Srinivasan also said his company intends to double the capacity of its plant in the state.

The state chief minister Kamal Nath said, his government was keen to put the state on the industrial map of the country. He called upon the industry to come forward and support MP's transformation into a vibrant industrial state.

While talking to reporters, Nath said the state received a lot of investment proposals during the summit, but refused to give any details.

"This investors summit was not a showoff or an MoU signing programme. Our focus is to build trust for investors to invest in the state," he said.

Nath further said in the last 10 months, the state government has tried to improve the system of governance.

"We want to create an environment in MP where an investor comes because of the government. One can formulate the number of investment policies but if the policies dont appeal to the investors, they wont invest," he added.

The chief minister had instructed that the industry department will not sign any investment pacts with prospective investors at the summit, but will only discuss proposals, the state chief secretary S R Mohanty said on Thursday.

This was because the previous summit held by the BJP government three years ago had attracted about Rs 5 lakh crore investment proposals but only Rs 1.20 lakh crore of investments were materialised-which is just under one-fourth of the commitment, Mohanty said.

According to Nath, the state is not witnessing any slowdown.

"Investment sentiments in the state have not reduced. In fact, the state has witnessed a 4 per cent increase in auto sales. The growth in FMCG products and consumer product sales has not declined, he said.

He said the government will be developing a business district in Indore on the similar lines of Bandra-Kurla Complex in the Mumbai.