Day One of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit saw MoUs worth a staggering Rs 14.9 lakh crore being inked with most of the biggies of India Inc. While the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group announced investment worth Rs 80,000 crore, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group inked an MoU for Rs 50,000 crore worth of investment in the state. They were followed closely by the Essar Group with Rs 30,000 crore and
Rs 12,000 crore by Hindustan Construction Company
These were just some of the mind boggling investment amounts, totaling to almost Rs 14.9 lakh crore, rattled off by a clutch of industrialists at the inaugural session of the fifth edition of ?Vibrant Gujarat: The global business hub? held in the state capital. As the industrialists, who shared the stage with the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, committed signing MoUs, heaping praises on Modi, hailing him as ?visionary? and ?dynamic?.
Modi said, ?Investments to the tune of $50 billion have been made in the first hour alone. Gujarat offers best infrastructure. The labour problems are zero and there is an abundance of critical drivers.?
MoUs, along with certificates, bound in a traditional cloth folder lay scattered near the stage where Modi was to give them away to the companies, posing for a photo-op. At the end of day one, the total number of MoUs across sectors like power, gas and pharma, signed by India Inc crossed 2,700.
Even though the deadline to sign MoUs passed on Tuesday, a government official insisted that in case of a ?prestigious? project, an MoU can be signed on the spot by
taking ?special? permission of authorities.
12% of plans rejected as non-serious
Stung by criticism over the actual success rate of MoUs signed in the past four Vibrant Gujarat summits that failed to be anywhere near the hyped figures, the Gujarat government on Tuesday said it rejected at least 12% of the MoUs proposed in its fifth summit this year, finding them ?non-serious.? Gujarat industries and mines principal secretary Maheshar Sahoo said at the end of the opening day of the summit, ?We formed a special committee before the summit and 10-12% of the MoUs were rejected this time after scrutiny??.