Rising Rajasthan: PM Modi pitches state as attractive investment destination

“India's success showcases the true power of democracy, demography, digital data and delivery. The success and empowerment of democracy in a diverse country like  India is a great achievement in itself,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. He was speaking at the inaugural event of the Rising Rajasthan summit in  Jaipur.

The rising Rajasthan summit comes ahead of the completion of one year of Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma's government.  Sharma said the state government has signed investment MoUs worth over Rs 35 lakh crore. The Sharma government had pulled all stops to make the event a success where over 32  countries, including 16 partner countries and 20 international organizations,  were participating.

The BJP governments are pitching their respective states as attractive destinations for investments owing to ease of doing business and secure environment. Modi congratulated Sharma for helming the state successfully in the past one year. “The BJP government has performed in various fields like the welfare of the poor and farmers, creation of new opportunities for the youth,  developmental works like road, electricity, water works.  He also added that the promptness of the government in controlling crime and corruption had brought new enthusiasm among citizens and investors.

As Modi welcomed business, even  those from abroad, he sold India's core philosophy – “Welfare of humanity while  being a democratic nation.” He praised the people for exercising their democratic rights and ensuring a stable Government in India.

This assumes significance as after the Lok Sabha verdict, the electorate have supported the  BJP governments in Haryana and Maharashtra owing to its promise of providing a stable political environment. Modi used the occasion to highlight the achievements of his government as captains of industry including Anil Agarwal,  Anand Mahindra, Gautam Adani, Kumar Mangalam Birla were present and also hailed  Modi’s leadership.

“India was able to rise to 11th largest economy in the world after seven decades of Independence, but in just the last decade, India has risen to fifth largest economy in the world. India’s economy and exports have nearly doubled in the last 10 years”, Modi said. 

Even the Foreign Direct  Investment had increased more than two times in the last decade in comparison with the decade before 2014. The infrastructure expenditure of India had  increased to Rs 11 Trillion from nearly Rs 2 trillion.”

Modi noted that in the last decade, India's youth power has added another dimension to our strength and this new dimension was India's tech power and data power. Emphasising the importance of technology and data in every sector in today’s world, Modi said  “This century is tech-driven and data-driven”. He noted that in the last decade, the number of internet users in India has increased by almost four times. He further added that new records were being made in digital transactions.  

Playing on the syllables, Modi said Rajasthan was not just a rising state,  but also a reliable one, Rajasthan was receptive and knew how to refine itself with time. Modi said a responsive and reformist government elected by the people of Rajasthan was the new aspect added to the R-factor of Rajasthan. 

The  Prime Minister said the state offered immense possibilities for nature, culture,  adventure, conference, destination wedding and heritage tourism in India. He added that Rajasthan was a major centre on India's tourism map and it had history, heritage, vast deserts and beautiful lakes with diverse music and cuisine.

He further added that Rajasthan was one of those select places in the world where people would want to come for weddings and to make life's moments memorable. 

Modi noted that about Rs 84,000 crore worth of exports has been made from Rajasthan in the last year which included engineering goods, gems and jewellery, textiles, handicrafts and agro-food products.

During the inaugural event, industrialists listed out their commitments for the state. Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal said his group invested Rs 1 lakh crore in the state. He said his group, which contributed to the exchequer, would aim to increase the government's revenue by three times from current Rs 50,000  crore to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, in which even Rajasthan would get Rs 40,000 crore instead of Rs 10,000 crore now. 

Karan Adani, Gautam Adani's son, Managing director of Adani Ports, said the group will invest Rs 7.5 lakh crore in the next five years in the state. Anand Mahindra said that the group would expand solar energy projects in Rajasthan, with current capacity of 1 GW set to grow to  2.8 GW, backed by an investment of Rs 11,000 crore. Kumar Mangalam Birla,  chairman of Aditya Birla Group said his group is set to invest Rs 50,000 crore in Rajasthan, focusing on expanding its presence across cement, renewable energy, telecom and retail sectors.