UP Investors Summit: Adani, Birla, Ambani lead Rs 4 trn investment promises

Lucknow: On the first day of the much-hyped Uttar Pradesh Investor Summit, state chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced that his government has signed 1,045 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 4.28 trillion, which is almost equivalent to the state annual budget for 2018-19.Yogi said he would personally monitor every project for its “actual” implementation on the ground.The big announcement, however, came from chairman and founder of Adani Group, Gautam Adani, who promised an aggregate investment of Rs 350 billion over the next five years. Adani, who was placed second after Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on the speaking list of industrialists, heaped praises on both Yogi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who flew in the morning to Lucknow to attend the summit along with Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Adani said his companies have significance presence in Uttar Pradesh and announced creation of 6 00,000 tonne storage capacity, food and agri complex, a solar plant and a multi-disciplinary university.Ambani said Reliance Jio would further invest Rs 100 bn in the next three years. “Jio has already invested Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in the state. By December 2018, Reliance Jio will be present in every village of Uttar Pradesh,” Ambani, who spoke in a mix of Hindi and English, told a packed audience at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, which is the venue of the Yogi government mega event.Ambani said his company is already providing direct and indirect employment to 40,000 people in the state. “The fresh investment would create employment opportunities for another 100,000 people in the state,” he said.Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, who spoke after Adani said his company would commit another Rs 250 billion for the state in the next five years. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, said his group can set up a manufacturing unit of electric vehicle if the state government comes up a with a favourable electric vehicle Adani said his companies have significance presence in Uttar Pradesh and announced creation of 6 00,000 tonne storage capacity, food and agri complex, a solar plant and a multi-disciplinary university.
Ambani said Reliance Jio would further invest Rs 100 bn in the next three years. “Jio has already invested Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in the state. By December 2018, Reliance Jio will be present in every village of Uttar Pradesh,” Ambani, who spoke in a mix of Hindi and English, told a packed audience at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, which is the venue of the Yogi government mega event.Ambani said his company is already providing direct and indirect employment to 40,000 people in the state. “The fresh investment would create employment opportunities for another 100,000 people in the state,” he said.Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, who spoke after Adani said his company would commit another Rs 250 billion for the state in the next five years. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, said his group can set up a manufacturing unit of electric vehicle if the state government comes up a with a favourable electric vehicle Adani said his companies have significance presence in Uttar Pradesh and announced creation of 6 00,000 tonne storage capacity, food and agri complex, a solar plant and a multi-disciplinary university.Ambani said Reliance Jio would further invest Rs 100 bn in the next three years. “Jio has already invested Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in the state. By December 2018, Reliance Jio will be present in every village of Uttar Pradesh,” Ambani, who spoke in a mix of Hindi and English, told a packed audience at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, which is the venue of the Yogi government mega event.Ambani said his company is already providing direct and indirect employment to 40,000 people in the state. “The fresh investment would create employment opportunities for another 100,000 people in the state,” he said.Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, who spoke after Adani said his company would commit another Rs 250 billion for the state in the next five years. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, said his group can set up a manufacturing unit of electric vehicle if the state government comes up a with a favourable electric vehicle transport policy.

Prime Minister Modi, who spoke at length, asked the Uttar Pradesh government to focus on value addition.

He said his government would support Uttar Pradesh’s one-district-one-product policy through various Central schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, Skill Development, Stand Up India and Start-Up India. He elaborated the success of each Central scheme. For instance, he informed the audience that his government has already provided free gas connections to over 30 million women under the Ujjwala Yojana, apart from constructing toilets and distributing loans under Mudra Yojana.Modi said his government would be setting up a defence industrial corridor in Uttar Pradesh. “There is scope for an investment of Rs 200 billion. This will create jobs for 250,000 people,” Modi said. The creation of two defence industrial corridors was announced in the Union budget for 2018-19. The Uttar Pradesh government has already taken approval from the defence ministry for setting up the corridor.