labels: economy - general
States woo NRIs for investmentsnews
09 January 2006

Hyderabad: State governments are actively wooing investments from the non-resident Indian community at the ongoing Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being held in Hyderabad.

Each successive government is vying with the other by showcasing its potential.

The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, anchored a session in which six chief ministers and senior representatives presented their states' capabilities and investment opportunities.

The Maharashtra government introduced the Bollywood element, with film star Jackie Shroff and popular director Subhash Ghai articulating their case in a separate session.

The Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, said that even though Gujarat was amongst the last states to be carved out, it had one of the fastest growing economies having 11 special economic zones. He said Gujarat has achieved a growth rate of 13 per cent in the agriculture sector against 4 per cent achieved by other states.

Kerala chief minister, Oommen Chandy, said that his state would soon receive about Rs20,000 crore in investments across two sectors and was amongst the first to have a private international airport.

The recently elected chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, said Bihar is basically an agrarian economy offering immense potential for post-harvest business, food processing and consumer products.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Dr Y S Rajashekara Reddy, said that a 20,000-acre knowledge corridor providing basic infrastructure to promote IT, biotech and other sectors is now under way. This along with infrastructure projects across the State offer immense opportunities for investments.

The chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said that J&K had succeeded in attracting about Rs3,500 crore in investments in the last three years and has the potential to harness about 20,000mw of hydel energy. Projects worth 4,800mw have been proposed thus far.

After the main plenary, each state had separate interactions with NRIs, giving them an overview of potential areas for investments.

The secretary general of FICCI, Dr Amit Mitra, said 70 per cent of the foreign companies in the country are making profits from their Indian operations and about 84 per cent of them are planning further expansion of their activities. Reforms in infrastructure and labour hold the key to higher and sustainable growth, Dr Mitra said.



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States woo NRIs for investments