As curtains fall, investors pledge Rs 25 lakh crore

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit drew to a close on Monday, with 21000 Memorandum of Understanding being signed during the two-day event and investors pledging to pump in about Rs 2500,000 crore to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said the seventh edition of the Vibrant Gujarat conclave had achieved remarkable success, with both Indian and foreign investors making a beeline to invest in the state.

“Though we invited all the prime ministers in the past, no one cared to attend the event. For the first time, a prime minister did, particularly as it is his own brainchild,” Patel said in her speech during the valedictory session of the conclave, referring to Modi, who inaugurated the conclave at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on Sunday.

As state chief minister, Modi started holding the Vibrant Gujarat conclave to woo investors to the state, which he ruled from October 2001 to May 2014. The first Vibrant Gujarat conclave was held in 2003 and it was since held every alternate year.

The conclave’s seventh edition assumed special significance, as the prime minister made use of the platform to reassure India Inc and the international business community on his government’s continued efforts to restore investor confidence to bring the economy back on the growth track.

Apart from Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani, Adani Group chief Gautam Adani, head of the Godrej Group Adi Godrej and other luminaries of India Inc, the “Vibrant Gujarat” conclave was also attended by leaders and business delegations from over 100 countries.

Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Janusz Piechociski attended the inaugural ceremony, apart from US Secretary of State John Kerry, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

Senior ministers of Australia, Canada, Israel, UK and Netherland led delegations from their respective countries.

Ban, Kerry and Jim joined the international business leaders to laud Modi government’s recent initiatives to remove trade barriers and to make economic policies investor friendly.

Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani said his group would invest Rs 1 lakh crore in 12-18 months across businesses, while Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group announced investment plans for Rs 20,000 crore in the state.

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto’s Chief Executive Officer, Sam Walsh, said that the group would add 30,000 jobs in diamond cutting industry in Gujarat.

Patel on Monday said that the state government would constitute three committees to follow up on investment pledges and keep track of the progress on the proposals.