Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that investors in Uttar Pradesh will be welcomed with a “red carpet instead of facing red tape” in Uttar Pradesh as top industry leaders pledged investments of over Rs 88,000 crore in the state.
Modi said he was sure the Yogi Adityanath government will ensure that all the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) involving an estimated investment of Rs 4.28 lakh crore signed ahead of the summit will be implemented soon.
“The CM has promised to follow and monitor the implementation of the MoUs himself. More jobs will be created for the people now. I am sure the UP Investors’ Summit will open new doors for investment in UP,” said Modi.
Modi used the occasion to tell investors about the changing environment in the state.
“Whenever any change takes place, it becomes visible. A large assembly of investors in the state shows that UP has changed. I congratulate chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his team of ministers, the bureaucracy, the police and the people of the state on bringing about the change so early. The industry will now get a red carpet welcome, instead of facing red tape, in Uttar Pradesh,” the PM said.
“I’ve said earlier too, progress comes through potential, policy, planning and performance and now Yogi ji’s government is ready to deliver super-hit performance,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s comment came as the chief minister spoke about his government’s initiatives to transform Uttar Pradesh from a ‘BIMARU’ state to a developed one and said that 1,045 MoUs were already signed ahead of the summit.
Modi said two days ago he attended a similar summit in Maharashtra that had set a target to become a trillion dollar economy.
“Can Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh compete with each other to become the trillion dollar economy? Will UP government compete with other states? The more the competition, more will be the investment. This will result in the creation of more jobs and strengthen the concept of cooperative federalism,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the Adityanath government had pushed the state from negativity towards positivity and rekindled hope among the people.
“A foundation has been laid to build a new Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
New projects, jobs
Modi also announced that out of the two defence industrial corridors proposed in the Union budget one will be set up in Uttar Pradesh, covering parts of the backward Bundelkhand region.
“Keeping in view development (requirements) of the Bundelkhand region, the defence corridor will be extended to Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi and Chitrakoot,” Modi said after inaugurating the UP Investors’ Summit-2018 at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow.
“We expect an investment of Rs 20,000 crore in the defence corridor. This will create 2.5 lakh more jobs,” he added.
The first of the two, announced by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech, is being built between Chennai and Bengaluru – connecting Kattupalli port, Chennai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Hosur.
The PM launched Nivesh Mitra, an entrepreneur-friendly application to enhance ease of doing business in UP. The digital portal has salient features such as one payment gateway that will quicken digital clearances.
Modi announced that in addition to three existing international airports in Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi, two more were coming up at Kushinagar in eastern UP and Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. In addition, airports in 11 other cities of the state were being developed to give a boost to regional connectivity, he said.
“Mera sapna hai havai chappal pehnane wala havai yatra karne wala bane” (My dream is to make the common man wearing slippers travel in an aeroplane),” said Modi.
He also referred to the new corridors coming up along two expressways, rail network and the river route being developed from Varanasi to Haldia and efforts for development of tourism in the state.
“Tourism is a multiplier for growth. UP needs to strengthen its eco-tourism,” he said.
Referring to the diversity of various regions of the state, Modi quoted a local saying: “Kos kos par badle paani aur chaar kos par vaani (Water changes every mile, and the dialect changes every four miles).”
Lauding the ‘one district one product’ scheme, he said it could prove to be the game changer for the state. He named Lucknow’s chikan, Rampur’s knife, Bhadohi carpets, Banarsi sarees, brassware of Moradabad and glassware of Firozabad in this connection.
Modi said the state held the top position in the production of food grain, wheat and potato etc. UP was in second place in terms of micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), he said.
“There is a need for value addition to core strengths in the state. The Yogi government has been formulating policies to link industrial investment to job creation,” said Modi.
Mega investments
Chief minister Adityanath assured all help to the top industry representatives and said he will remove bottlenecks, if any, to expedite the process of setting up industrial units in the state.
“I will personally monitor all MoUs (memorandums of understanding) to ensure their proper roll-out and to make sure that no industrialist faces any problem in setting up his unit,” the chief minister said.
The state’s minister for industrial development Satish Mahana said the government’s positive response would compel industrialists to invest in UP.
“We will provide all the facilities to investors. Those who were not willing to come to UP are now here for investment. I assure you that we will not disappoint you. The route to Delhi passes through Uttar Pradesh,” Mahana added.
On their part, top industry leaders pledged investments of over Rs 88,000 crore in the state during the inaugural session of the meet.
The companies that assured investments over the next five years include Reliance Jio (Rs 10,000 crore), Adani group (Rs 35,000 crore), Aditya Birla Group (Rs 25,000 crore), Essel Group (Rs 18,750 crore) and Mahindra & Mahindra (Rs 200 crore).
Reliance Industries Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani said the Prime Minister’s dream was to make UP ‘Sarvottam Pradesh’.
“We all will realise his dream. UP is fortunate to have a CM like Yogi Adityanath. India cannot rise without the rise of 22 crore people. When UP rises no power can stop India to become the economic power,” he said.
Adani group chairperson Gautam Adani said his group would develop a logistics park in the state.
“We will invest Rs 35,000 crore in the next five years,” Adani said as he listed the projects that his group proposes to set up in the northern states.
Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar Mangalam Birla said his group was among the earliest and largest investors in UP. He said the group would continue to be the top investor in the state and added that the company would invest Rs 25,000 crore in multiple businesses in next five years.
“Almost 17% of the total population of the country lives in Uttar Pradesh … The development story of the country cannot be written without the state,” he added.
