By Pervez Bari
Indore: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has said: “We will turn the state from ‘emerging tiger economy’ to ‘tiger economy’ of the country in next two years.” These views he expressed while speaking at the inaugural session of “Magnificent MP” Investors’ Summit here at Indore, the financial capital of the state.
Overwhelmed with tremendous response from industries, he declared: “Any company can start working without any permission provided it has the land in the state. Then it can directly start working. It will not require any permission or No Objection Certificate (NoC) from any department. They will have to offer 70 per cent jobs to state’s youths.”
He was addressing a crowded press conference at the end of MMP Investor Meet at Brilliant Convention Centre on Friday evening. The Chief Minister avoided divulging quantum and numbers of investment proposals received in a day and said: “I do not believe in numbers and signing MoUs (Memorandum of Understandings) for investment. Our objective was to create the trust atmosphere that is investor and investment-friendly. We have achieved it in 10 months of power. We brought change in the attitude of governance, which is optical”, he said further.
CM wants reverse migration of state-born IT professionals
Expressing government’s resolve, Nath declared, “We want reverse migration of state-born IT professionals working in Bengaluru or any other city of the country or abroad to MP. Around 100 such professionals working abroad for the last 30 to 40 years are already coming back,”
No single window
Three years after starting the work, the government will check compliance of rules. Government will act only if any wrong is detected. Criticising single window policy of the previous government, Kamal Nath said “There was single window in the front but there were 10 other windows at the back that never opened.”
Not a platform for signing of MoUs
Meanwhile, inaugurating the summit Chief Minister Kamal Nath said that today’s event is not for namesake and it is not a platform for signing of MoUs in which deals worth thousands of crores are made and are far from ground reality. The Chief Minister said that our goal is that actual investments are made, more employment opportunities are generated, the state becomes economically strong and a new era of economic activities begins in the whole state which will help every section of the society to flourish. He said that we want to take the state above the category of a state that provides products and service. The Chief Minister said that I want to tell the industrial groups and investors that in the current scenario, Madhya Pradesh is a state on which they can rely on. We want to make it clear that Madhya Pradesh puts its words into action. This is the reason why we are gathered here today. We have confidence in ourselves and our reliability is unwavering.
The Chief Minister said that the government is aware of the requirements of the industries. They want excellent, physical and social infrastructure. He said that in the last ten months we have put in extra efforts and achieved the impossible. Major reforms have been made in the property guidelines to encourage real estate sector. Indore-Bhopal metro work has been started. Permit and license fee of colonizers have been reduced from 27 percent to 5 percent and a provision has been made to give one colonizers’ license to the entire state. The Chief Minister said that in the field of infrastructure development, Bhopal, Indore Industrial Corridor is being developed under which a satellite city will also be developed. R.R.T.S will be arranged to connect Bhopal and Indore to metro.
Commitments to Investments
Reliance to double outlets
Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited and India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani on Friday announced that Reliance will double up the number of stores and outlets in the state and will also establish a national distribution centre covering 100 million square feet of space in 45 locations.
His message was webcast during the inaugural function in which he said MP is not only country’s heart but also in the country’s heart. Reliance has invested over Rs 20,000 crore in the state during the last few years and has emerged as the second largest employer after state government. “We have developed coal bed methane plants and build the first and only gas pipeline that connects it with national gas grid. This has opened up multiple investment opportunities,” Ambani added.
Speaking about Jio, he said that it has become the greatest catalyst for transforming MP into a digital society. MP alone consumes more data than South Korea, the UK, France, Germany or Canada. He said that Madhya Pradesh is a natural choice for logistic hub as it connects half of the country.
“We will also explore investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector to promote sustainable development and the green economy,” Ambani said adding, “The company has over 600 stores and 100 petroleum retail outlets in the state. We will have more than double of these numbers in coming years. The new commerce initiatives of Reliance Retail will benefit tens of thousands of kirana stores and small merchants.”
Sun Pharma to expand its facilities
Founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals Dilip Shanghvi announced to expand manufacturing facilities in Dewas and Malanpur. In his address at the inaugural function, he said company didn’t have a manufacturing unit in the state but after acquiring Ranbaxy, there are two units in Dewas and Malanpur.
“We have invested close to Rs.500 crore in the state so far,” he added. Shanghvi said pharmaceutical sector is well positioned in the state as it has good infrastructure and industrial-friendly policies.
“Power is most important component in our sector and if we can use renewable energy as a part of our energy cost, then it will be more efficient. I believe that as chief minister has overcome other issues, he will focus on this as well,” he remarked.
Rs.500 cr investments in pipeline: Jarrault
Managing Director of Lapp India, Mark Jarrault, said that the company has been working in various sectors and has presence in the state.
“We also have Rs.500 crore projects in pipeline and will soon expand our units here,” he said. Jarrault also talked about the reason for his investment in the state.
“Along with good connectivity with other state and international airport, it also has stable water and power supply, high quality education institutes and ease of doing business. We look forward to strengthen our relationship in the state,” he added.
ITC to establish food processing plant
Chairman and Managing Director of ITC Sanjiv Puri announced setting up a new food processing unit for Rs.700 crore in the state. “With the encouragement by the chief minister and our earlier endeavours, we will establish the facility soon. Land is with us. Design work is going on and the facility will be started,” he said.
Puri also informed that along with producing all the famous brands, including ‘Ashirwad’ and ‘Bingo,’ the new facility would de-hydrate locally sourced vegetables and sent it across the country.
“ITC sources a large quantity of wheat from Madhya Pradesh, which produces among the finest qualities of the crop, such as ‘Sharbati.’ We are also working on enhancing the farmers’ realisation and will focus on strengthening the agriculture value chain and irrigation storage facilities. ITC also aims to encourage horticulture in the state,” he added.
India Cement to establish 2.5 million tonne cement plant
Addressing the investors’ summit, MD of India Cements Limited N. Srinivasan said that as the part of initial investment, they will establish a 2.5 million tonne cement plant and a 1 million tonne grinding plant soon.
“Along with establishing these plants, we also intend to expand them. In next 3-4 years, we will have cement plant and headquarters in the state,” he said. The MD also added that he has not seen such dynamic leadership (Kamal Nath’s) in last 5 decades as he understand the issues quickly and take decisions immediately.
Land available to set up industries on nominal charge in MP
Meanwhile, addressing the Industries 4.0 the Imaging Hub of Innovation Parallel Session at Magnificent Madhya Pradesh Public Relations Minister P.C. Sharma said that Madhya Pradesh government wants more and more industrialists to come forward to set up industries in the state. Land is available to set up industries on a nominal charge in the state for IT Parks and IT Products. This facility can be fully utilized by everyone. Madhya Pradesh government resolves works at a fast pace. There is a favourable environment for industries in the state. There is no shortage of water and land here. He said that as the state is connected to five states, there are immense possibilities of global marketing here. Establishment of industries will create employment opportunities for the people. He informed that map IT is working for all the departments of the state, which has enhanced technical quality in the works of all the departments in the state.
Logistics hub
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary S. R. Mohanty said that the geographical situation of Madhya Pradesh makes it perfectly suitable for a logistics hub. This is the reason why the state government is serious about creating such hubs at select places. He said that effective suggestions are expected from industrialists in this regard.
Mohanty was speaking at a parallel session of MPLA Logistics Hub at ‘Magnificent MP-2019’.
Chief Secretary Mohanty mentioned the special characteristics of Madhya Pradesh in terms of warehousing. He said that the target is to reduce the logistics cost by 10 percent by the year 2022. He said that Madhya Pradesh is surrounded by large states in terms of population. It is located approximately at equal distance from important states. In view of these facts, the situation of the state is important from the point of view of logistics. Another important aspect is the adequate availability of land in the state.
Eleven industry leaders, including Godrej’s Adi Godrej, Bharti’s Rakesh Bharti Mittal, CII chief Vikram Kirloskar, Trident Group’s Rajinder Gupta and others participated in the one-day event.