‘There is no red tape in Gujarat, only red carpets’

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: On the eve of the second Vibrant Gujarat Investor Summit, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has shed his saffron image in favour of a far more suave one — that of a market-savvy CEO of Gujarat Inc. Just back from a whirlwind tour of several countries including Thailand and Australia while other ministers from his Cabinet toured the US, UK and African states in a bid to woo investment into Gujarat, Modi is brimming with confidence that investors are eyeing “India and China as the next economic giants of the world.” In a freewheeling interview to FE’s Jyotsna Bhatnagar, the Gujarat CM speaks on a range of issues, from what prompted him to initiate the marketing of Gujarat through festival-linked summits to the state’s success in translating intent into actual investment. Excerpts:

How effective are such summits in marketing the state?

First of all, the main purpose of events like the Vibrant Gujarat investor summit is to focus on the opportunities, potential and prospects that the state has to offer. There are different ways of doing this. I deliberately chose to focus on the inherent vibrancy of Gujarat which comes to the fore through festivals such as the Navratri festival and Uttarayan because I wished to link trade with tradition, commerce with culture and entrepreneurship with entertainment.

Following Gujarat’s example, many states have started doing the same thing. For instance, former Karnataka CM S M Krishna decided to sell the state’s development by linking it with their annual Vijayadashmi festival.

When we decided to focus on the Navratri festival, we deliberately marketed it in a very western way by calling it the “longest dance festival in the world.” And let me tell you, several years from now, people across the world will make a special point to remember the Navratri festival in Gujarat in much the same way as the beer festival in Germany or the tomato festival in the US.