The Gujarat government is expecting a positive response to its forthcoming Vibrant Gujarat Summit slated to be held in Gandhinagar from January 18 to 20. The summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is claimed that about 24,000 companies have already registered for the summit along with 3,000 delegates. The Gujarat government expects a total of 35,000 participants for the summit.
Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, education minister of Gujarat, who led the Bengaluru roadshow, remarked that the state had a comprehensive sector specific policies that further facilitated the ease of doing business, and had a large land bank reserved for the industry. “Gujarat has mega projects such as the Special Investment Regions at Dholera and Mandal-Becharaji, Gift City, the Coastal Economic Zone in Kutch and also has India's first 1GW offshore wind energy park besides the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train. We also have a very large land bank reserved for the industry,” said Chudasama. He also said that the Gujarat government is focusing on collaborating with global organisations and corporations to establish skill development infrastructure and programmes.
Speaking on the investment potential of the state, Jayanti S. Ravi, commissioner and principal secretary, government of Gujarat said that the state had an advantage to attract investments as it was one of the most industrialised states in the country. “The state had a very healthy GDP growth rate, industrial output, per capita income etc. The state also has the longest coastline in the country and 40 per cent of India's maritime cargo passes through Gujarat. Besides this, around 26 per cent of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor passes through Gujarat and it has a great potential for further industrial development in the state,” said Ravi.
The Bengaluru leg of the Vibrant Gujarat roadshow also saw a few Indian companies vouching for ease of doing business in the state. Representatives from companies such as MRF Tyres, the TTK Group along with others shared their experiences of doing business in Gujarat and further announced their expansion plans in the state.
A. Isaac Thamburaj, associate vice president, manufacturing, MRF Limited, observed that the company had acquired land to set up its manufacturing plant in the state without any hassle and the government had streamlined all the processes to set up the plant. On the other hand, T. T. Jagannathan, executive chairman of TTK Prestige Limited, remarked that the company already had operations in Gujarat and had 600 people already working in it. He also said that the group have further expansion plans in the state.
The Bengaluru roadshow, by the Gujarat government, will be closely followed by similar roadshows in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.
