Gujarat looks to lure global diaspora for investments

Gujarat will set up foreign desks in cities such as New York, Frankfurt, Dubai and Tokyo to attract its global diaspora to invest in the state, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said here.
"Gujarati diaspora is present in huge numbers abroad and is always ready to invest in growth of the state. To institutionalise this, we have decided to start foreign desks in international cities of New York, Frankfurt, Dubai, and Tokyo," Patel said while speaking at 'Gujarat Investor Summit' during the ongoing Make in India week in Mumbai.
"Our policies have always been industry-friendly and we have managed to attract both foreign and domestic investments through Vibrant Gujarat Summit (a biennial global business summit)," Patel said, adding Gujarat is a preferred investment destination for leading industrialists in the country.

Commenting on ease of doing business, Patel said, "Gujarat government has started a single-window system."
A high-power committee has been set up to check on the implementation of MoUs and this is monitored at the chief minister's level, she added.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion's (DIPP) statistics show that Gujarat is number one in investment proposals and investment implementations, the chief minister said.

Gujarat has a tremendous growth potential in petrochemicals, automobile and electronics manufacturing sector.
The state is known as the auto hub in the country, Patel said adding, "Automobile sector majors like Tata, Honda and Maruti have committed huge investment in the state. Gujarat is also number one in chemicals and petrochemicals and has also attracted Rs one lakh crore investments in the last two years."

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Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh, which has been ranked Number 2 on a poll done on ease of doing business, is all set to become number one by next year, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said.
Speaking on the sidelines of Make in India Week, Naidu also batted for GST regime.
"GST will have a tremendous impact on every industry and also in terms of ease of doing business. Even VAT was opposed initially but it has a positive impact on our economy," he added.
Andhra Pradesh signed MoUs worth Rs 4.78 lakh crore with participation from 40 countries in the Investment Summit held in January 2016 at Visakhapatnam.

"Our biggest advantage is that we have a large coastline of 970 kilometres. We have also linked two of our biggest rivers -- Godavari and Krishna -- and trying to make the state drought-free," Naidu said.
"We are also using electrical poles to augment Internet connectivity and by June-July, every home can be connected by broadband," he added.
Naidu said the state has huge investment opportunities in every industry including technology, agriculture, food processing, among others.