PM Narendra Modi Gears Up For UP Investors Summit

UP government is gearing up to woo big-ticket investors and industrial groups for the two day mega event `UP Investors summit’ here from February 21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event on February 21 and the President Ram nath Kovind will be here on the concluding day February 22.

Though the economic reforms were introduced in India in July 1991, the winds of change had hardly touched the shores of Uttar Pradesh in last 27 years. Being the home state of the prime minister Narendra Modi, being MP from Varanasi, and the Yogi Adityanath as chief minister coupled with the massive exercise undertaken by the NITI Ayog for the development of the state in last 11 months, the idea of ` ease of doing business’’ has started striking roots in the state. Moreover the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax has eliminated the large part of corruption and red tapism as the corrupt tax administration was a major deterrent for the investors in the state.

"The change in environment for the investors will be visible during and after the investors summit as it’s not the old bureaucracy and all are geared up to make the `UP Investor summit’ a success with the ultimate objective of making the UP as frontline state on the path of development’’, said Industries minister Satish Mahana. He said `` there is no dearth of developed land for the industrial purpose across the state. We will offer industrial grade land from a menu of available swatches and plots in Uttar Pradesh’’.

"Such land has been identified under various state industrial development authorities, namely, Noida, Greater Noida, Lucknow Industrial development authority (LIDA) besides the pockets flanking Lucknow-Agra expressway and the proposed Purvanchal Expressway. The government has planned to earmark land falling within the 10 km of these expressways’’, said the minister.

The industries minister said he has directed the industrial development authorities to ensure the availability of land before the forthcoming UP Investors’ Summit on February 21. He stressed that the visiting delegates should be apprised of such land, so that prospective investors could choose suitable land for setting up their units.

So far, over 5,000 delegates have already registered for the Summit. Some of the partner countries at the Summit include Netherlands, Japan, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia and Mauritius. Besides, UP state Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) is in the process of finalising 25,344 acres of land at 15 industrial hubs across the state for setting up industrial units. The Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping is on.

In all, there are nine industrial development authorities in UP, including UPSIDC, Noida, Greater Noida, Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA), Satharia Industrial Development Authority (SIDA), LIDA, Yamuna Expressway Authority, UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address the inaugural session of the Summit on February 21, while President Ram Nath Kovind would arrive for the valedictory function of the high ticket extravaganza, the biggest such event in Luck now’s calendar. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley would also address the closing ceremony on February 22.

On the inaugural day, Adityanath would host a high profile dinner for about 200 dignitaries, including India Inc’s top captains, including Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Subhash Chandra, Sudhir Mehta, Sanjiv Puri, Hemant Kanoria, Kulin Lalbhai, G M Rao and Subramanian Sarma etc.

In recent months, the government had organised road shows at six metropolises, including New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmadabad in run-up to the Summit. At Mumbai, Adityanath had interacted with industrialists, including Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, bankers and investors. Later, Kumarmanglam Birla had called upon Yogi in Lucknow to discuss investment opportunities.

At these road shows, the state had claimed to have garnered investment proposals worth Rs 2.85 Lakh crore with Mumbai road show alone accounting for about Rs 1.25 Lakh crore. Gautam Adani had also met the UP delegation in final road show in Ahmadabad on January 18. Meanwhile, Mahana has claimed that investment Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth over Rs 70,000 crore had already been signed with private companies.