Indore, Oct 17 (IANS) Can Chief Minister Kamal Nath dispel the pervading cynicism over big ticket investments in Madhya Pradesh? The strike rate of the preceding government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan through the past 15 years had been far from satisfactory.

Apart from the smaller investment meets in the regional towns, three major summits in the commercial hub of Indore in 2012, 2014 and 2016 were held at an average cost of Rs 70 crore. The first investors' summit after the ascent of Congress government tagged as "Magnificent MP" is being organised at Indore on Friday at a cost of about Rs 30 crore less than half the cost. Kamal Nath has promised a much higher yield.

Now, on the eve of the investment Summit, the government says 900 industrialists have been invited by the Department of Industry to attend the summit. Every industrialist is expected to bear the cost of stay. The industrialists are also expected to maintain their mobility in Indore and other places at no cost to the government, said an official spokesperson.

The government has claimed that an investment of 12,000 crore is already in the kitty.

Kamal Nath is said to have used his networking skills to get 35 major industrial houses from India and abroad including Reliance to invest Rs 12 000 crore in MP.

Unlike in the past when the government used to have all investment plans under one umbrella, the focus will be on nine core sectors this time around. Each sector will get a format tailored to its its requirement.

Consent has so far been obtained from India Cement Vice-Chairman N. Srinivasan, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Rasna Group MD P. Khambata. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will inform industrialists about the industrial progress and investment opportunities in the state.

There are 125 industrialists in the VVIP gold class category who include Adi Godrej from Godrej Group, Pranav Adani from Adani Group, Sanjeev Bajaj from Bajaj Fin Serv, Ganesh Krishnamurthy from Hindustan Uni Liver, Kazuya Nakajo from JETRO, Japan, Ashok Sharma from Mahindra & Mahindra, Tanmay Chakraborty from TATA Sons, Madhusudan Gopalan from Procter & Gamble, Sanjeev Puri and Chittaranjan Dar from ITC, Vikram Kirloskar from Toyota Kirloskar, S. Shandilya from Eicher Motors, Sandeep Garg from Welspun, and Sanjay Behi from Raymond.

Government sources say proposals in different stages of consideration and finalisation for the Foreign investments are expected to come from:
1 Israel Avgol 1,250 Cr
2. Brazil Fitesa 350 Cr
3. Japan Bridgestone 400 Cr
4. Norway Statkraft 1000 Cr
5. USA Parpharma 375 Cr
6. Israel Treva pharma 258 Cr
7. USA Case New Holland 162 Cr
8. USA Teneco automotive 90 Cr
9. USA P&G expansion 500 Cr

It was claimed that in excess of 6,800 proposals translating into Rs 17,50,000 crore were made during Shivraj Singh Chouhan's chief ministership. In more than a decade, the inputs did not cross Rs 50,000-cr mark on the eve of the assembly elections in November last year.

BJP struggled to stimulate the industrial sector. The state's share in the country's industrial output fell from 3.6 per cent in 2003 to 3.2 per cent in 2014, data from the old GDP series showed.

Several major projects were signed during the previous global investors summits (GIS) in 2012 and 2014 but failed to materialise.

The Jaypee Group had promised an investment of Rs 35,000 crore during GIS 2014, mainly to set up a microchips manufacturing facility. The company was to invest Rs 18,000 crore through Jaiprakash Associates in the first phase but the venture has remained a non-starter.

Sahara Group had inked a deal in 2012 to invest Rs 20,000 crore but the projects failed to take off.

--IANS
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