All roads lead to Jharkhand Global Investors Summit
Published: Feb 17, 2017
By TIOLCORP News Service
NEW DELHI, FEB 17, 2017: IN the presence of Chief Minister Shri Raghubar Das as well as other dignitaries and delegates, the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley yesterday inaugurated the Government of Jharkhand's maiden two-day (16 and 17 February) investment promotion event, 'Momentum Jharkhand Global Investors' Summit 2017', at Khelgaon, Ranchi. Besides those from India, more than 9,000 delegates are attending the Summit from partner countries - Japan, Czech Republic, Tunisia and Mongolia - as well as from 28 other nations such as Australia, the US, the UK, Ukraine, Russia, China, Canada, Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Sudan, Korea, UAE, Italy, Oman, Venezuela and Pakistan, among others.
Government of Jharkhand in its endeavor to promote industrial activity in the State and establish Jharkhand as one of the prime investment destination has taken numerous steps towards improvement of overall investment climate. They have successfully implemented the framework of 'Ease of Doing Business' and have devised business friendly policies which have been instrumental in significantly reforming Jharkhand's business climate. Jharkhand is currently ranked third by World Bank report in terms of Ease of Doing Business in the country. Jharkhand holds 40% of India's natural mineral reserves and ranks 3rd among Indian states in business reforms implementation. Jharkhand is the first Indian state to have state-wide area network (SWAN) under National e-Governance.
Corporate leaders of four big companies promised as much as Rs 40,000 crore worth of investments in the state. While Aditya Birla Group's Kumar Mangalam Birla announced the company's plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore in the state, of which Rs 1,500 crore are earmarked, Essar Group Chairman Shashi Ruia promised double the amount to the mineral-rich state. Anil Agarwal of the Vedanta Group said the company wants to invest Rs 5,000 crore in Jharkhand within 2017, while Adani Enterprises' Rajesh Adani promised pumping in Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years, which would create 12,000 direct jobs.
The state government has decided to sign agreements only with those companies who have a past record of commencing their projects on ground within six months, and even after signing the MoUs, these will be personally monitored by the Chief Minister Raghubar Das.
The Centre also promised more projects to the state. Road Minister Nitin Gadkari assured Rs 50,000 crore worth road projects in the state over next 30 months. Power Minister Piyush Goyal, on the other hand, promised commissioning of 30 new mines in the state.
But only time will tell how many of these promises translate into reality.
