Uttar Pradesh is playing an important role in driving India’s growth story, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in Lucknow, while inaugurating the State’s flagship Global Investors’ Summit-2023.
Addressing the gathering comprising eminent industrialists and policymakers at Valmiki Main Hall in Vrindavan Yojna, Mr. Modi added that the State is the hope of the country and has improved in every field in the last five-six years.
“The State has witnessed improvement in every field from electricity to connectivity in the last five-six years. U.P. is now known for stability, good governance, and better law and order,” said Mr. Modi, while adding the State was considered BIMARU in the past due to bad governance and adverse law and order.
“U.P. became a BIMARU State in the past. Development seemed impossible due to adverse law and order situation and people had given up on hope”, said the PM.
The PM hailed the infrastructure development in U.P. and added that very soon the State will have five international airports.
“U.P. is getting connected to the sea and to the ports of Maharashtra and Gujarat through a dedicated freight corridor. Very soon, the State will have five international airports,” he said.
The three-day summit aimed at acting as a catalyst in bringing investment in the State amid its ambitious $1 trillion economy target in the next five years will have 34 sessions with 10 sessions on day one, 13 on day two and 11 sessions on the last day.
Apart from the PM, the inaugural session was addressed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Speaking on the occasion, U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the State has attracted investments proposals worth ₹32.92 lakh crore through the roadshows in the run-up to the Summit and is working in line with the Prime Minister’s mantra of ‘Reform, Perform Transform’.
“It is the Mahakumbh of investment and these investment proposals will create 92.50 lakh job opportunities in the State. We have made favourable environment for industrialisation by bringing 25 sectoral policies and improving the law and order situation,” said Mr. Adityanath, while inviting investors to take part in the development of the State.
Mr. Adityanath added the Bundelkhand and Purvanchal(Eastern U.P.) regions of the state, which were considered backward areas, have also got investments worth of Rs 4.28 lakh crore and Rs nine lakh crore respectively through the Summit. “Bundelkhand and Purvanchal (Eastern U.P.) regions were considered backward areas, but they have also got investments worth of Rs 4.28 lakh crore and Rs nine lakh crore respectively,” said the CM. He thanked the Indian embassies and industrial houses for cooperation during the roadshows and events in the run-up to the summit. “Roadshows in 21 cities of 16 countries and nine cities in different states of India was organised for the GIS. We got the active support of Indian missions, officials posted abroad during the roadshows. We received cooperation from industrial houses also, I want to thank all of them,” Mr. Adityanath added.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lauded the Defense Corridor in the state describing it as a big step towards making India self-reliant in defence. “Today, Uttar Pradesh has become the growth engine of India. The Defense Corridor is a major step in making the country completely self-reliant in defence. Complete Indianisation of our defense system is possible only when we use indigenous technology in equipment, parts and manufacturing as well,” the Defence Minister said.
Noted industrialists like Mukesh Ambani, Anand Mahindra, N. Chandrasekaran and Kumar Mangalam Birla also addressed the gathering which will be attended by over 20 Central ministers, with countries like Denmark and Singapore partnering various sessions over a period of three days.
Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani said his group is planning to invest an additional ₹75,000 crore in the next four years across Jio, retail and renewable energy businesses providing an additional 1 lakh jobs to the youth in the State.
U.P. has been working for more than six months on the GIS-2023 and brought many new sector-wise policies or upgraded old policies to attract investment. These policies were in sectors of food processing, tourism, textile, culture and real estate among others.
In the run-up to the Summit, the government sent delegations led by Cabinet ministers to major foreign and Indian cities for the purposes of interacting with industry leaders and the private sector. It also organised road shows in foreign cities like Dubai, London and New York, apart from Indian cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chennai for publicising the GIS-2023.
