The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan received the biggest investment pledges from corporate behemoths Adani Group and Reliance Industries Ltd under the 'Invest Rajasthan' outreach programme, according to data gathered from an Indian Express RTI application.
The data from the state's Bureau of Investment Promotion (BoIP) showed that the two houses together, between December 2021 and March 2022, pledged a combined amount of over Rs 1.68 lakh crore in Letters of Intent and MoUs with the state government. This amount accounts for almost 18 per cent of the total Rs 9,40,453 crore.
In the Lok Sabha in February this year, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of crony capitalism, saying that the Adani-Ambani duo was a "double A variant" spreading through the Indian economy.
Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd pledged Rs 1 lakh crore, Adani Green Energy Ltd pledged Rs 60,000 crore, Adani Infra Ltd Rs 5,000 crore, Adani Total Gas Ltd pledged Rs 3,000 crore and Adani Wilmar Ltd pledged Rs 246.08 crore, the data showed.
The Rajasthan BoIP listed a total of 4,016 institutions, including JSW Future Energy Ltd, Sterlite Power Technologies Pvt Ltd and Hindustan Zinc Ltd of the Vedanta Group, Axis Energy Ventures Pvt Ltd, Eden Renewables and Tata Power.
According to the BoIP website, the ‘Invest Rajasthan’ programme is the "state’s active investor outreach programme comprising domestic, national and international investor meets, embassy connect programmes and virtual seminars. The programme aims at soliciting investment proposals, processing them on a mission mode and taking them to fruition".
The 'Invest Rajasthan' Summit was planned for January this year but was postponed due to the pandemic. Chief Minister Gehlot reportedly met with several businessmen, including Gautam Adani, in the run-up to the postponed summit. The summit will now take place in Jaipur on Oct 7 and 8.
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