Rajasthan attracts investments of over Rs 1.5 lakh cr

In the run up to the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit, agreements worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore have been signed with companies from solar, mining, textiles and petroleum sectors, as the state gears up to become a major investment destination.

Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit 2015 is slated to be held in Jaipur on November 19 and 20.

"We have MoUs worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore. A major chunk of the investments promised under the agreements are in solar energy sector, apart from petroleum and mines," Veenu Gupta, Principal Secretary, Industries, Government of Rajasthan said.

"We have been able to attract major investments in the solar energy sector owing to our inherent climatic advantages," she added.

Asked about comparisons with Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, who have been conducting similar investment summits, Gupta said Rajasthan was not competing with other states but only attempting to attract investments based on its potential.

However, she said Rajasthan certainly aims to be in the top three when it comes to the ease of doing business parameters.

Besides, textiles is the only sector in the state which gets an interest subsidy on term loan taken from financial institutions. This is in addition to the interest subsidy offered by the government of India under Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) Scheme.

Combining these two subsidies, the effective interest rate in the textile sector in the state becomes negligible.

Consequently, a large number of textile firms have set up plants in Rajasthan. The state has received investment proposals scaling up to Rs 5,000 crore in the textile sector.

These units on becoming operational will generate enough employment opportunities for 20,000 to 25,000 persons in the next two years.