Gujarat Brought Us Luck: Ratan Tata at Vibrant Gujarat Summit

India Inc pledges big bucks at eighth edition of Vibrant Gujarat Summit. (Source: BloombergQuint)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the eighth Vibrant Gujarat Summit, which is expected to bring investments worth lakhs of crores into the state.

In his welcome address, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the state enjoys a special place in the Indian economy and dedicated its progress to Prime Minister and the former chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. Diplomats and delegates from more than 100 countries are participating in the Summit, Rupani told the crowd at the Mahatma Mandir Convention Center in Gandhinagar.

He lauded the demonetisation effort launched by the Centre in November last year, which led to the withdrawal of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

In two months, 1.25 million bank accounts have been opened and 7.5 million RuPay debit cards have been issued. Within one month, 450 villages have been enabled for digital payments. It’s become a mass movement in Gujarat. We hope that this vision of the PM will make Gujarat and India more vibrant. 

Vijay Rupani, Gujarat Chief Minister 

First among the day’s corporate speakers, Ratan Tata, interim chairman of the Tata Group, heaped praise on Modi for the all-round development of the state and said it would be “stupid to not be here [Gujarat]”.

“We had the fortune and good luck of moving our car factory to Gujarat,” Tata said referring to the Tata’s Nano plant. After a controversial stay in West Bengal, Tata Motors shifted its Nano car project to Sanand, Gujarat in 2008.

Ratan Tata was followed by chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd Mukesh Ambani who promised that the telecom arm of the group, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, will connect all hospitals, medical facilities, colleges and schools in Gujarat.

I take this opportunity to reaffirm our fullest support to realise your vision [Modi’s]; Gujarat has also attracted the highest foreign direct investment among all states in the country. As Ratan said, we are proud that Reliance is also a Gujarati company. My father started Reliance’s journey in Gujarat. For me, this is a sacred land.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and MD, Reliance Industries Ltd.

While all commitments made in the past have not translated to realised investments, with a Bloomberg report showing that of the Rs 40 lakh crore investment that has been pledged between 2003 and 2011, only 8 percent have actually materialised so far, Ambani claims that his company has actually invested Rs 10,000 crore more than the committed amount.

These investments provide 2 lakh jobs and contribute to Gujarat’s export competitiveness... In 2014-15, only 35 percent had access to 3G/4G but now 90 percent of the state is covered with Jio’s network and 100 percent of the state will be covered by Diwali. 

Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries 

While addressing the audience at the inaugural event, Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group said that India is now well positioned for “several decades of strong growth”.

Adani Ports will invest Rs 16,700 crore to extend all port locations in the state, Adani said, adding that the key investments will span two new container terminals to increase the company’s capacity in Gujarat.

The group will also invest in businesses like cement and clinker at Mundra business district, he added. He announced that the group will invest Rs 49,000 crore in the state over the next 5 years.

By the year 2021, our new investment in solar and wind will exceed Rs 21,000 crore. The Adani Group is also making significant progress in expanding our agricultural footprint. We are now doubling our manufacturing capacity of edible oils in Gujarat. 

Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group 

This year, the total investment pledged by companies is expected to touch more than Rs 25 lakh crore, according to wire agency PTI.

Toshihiro Suzuki, chief executive officer of Suzuki Motors said that the company’s new automotive plant in the state will start functioning from next month, “We are eager to establish an industrial automobile cluster here in Gujarat,” Suzuki said.

First, we plan to invite more and more automobile suppliers in the state including tier two and tier three. Second, we will try to train people in skilled automobile manufacturing. We decided to set up the Japan-India school of manufacturing to train school dropouts in technical and soft skills here in Gujarat.

Toshihiro Suzuki, CEO,Suzuki Motors

Fairfax Founder and Chief Executive Officer Prem Watsa said the best investment opportunities are “right here in India.”

“In May 2014, India’s political climate changed dramatically for the positive with PM Modi’s election,” said Watsa adding that he expected Modi to be India’s Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of the first post-colonial version of Singapore, credited with creating a a successful modern nation.

We created a sister company Fairfax India in 2015. We have invested a billion or two of the money that we raised in five major investments including MCML, IIFL holdings, and Privy Organics in Mumbai. We are expecting to soon complete the Bengaluru Airport which will be third largest international airport in the country. 

Prem Watsa, Founder & CEO, Fairfax Financial Holdings 

The previous edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit garnered investments worth more than Rs 25 lakh crore through more than 21,000 MoUs, according to the official website of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

While there were eight partner and 110 participating countries in the last edition of the summit, the number of participating countries rose to 12 in this year’s summit.

This article was originally published on BloombergQuint