Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav draws Rs 33,000 crore investment pledge from India Inc

Promising best of the facilities to industry, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday made his maiden investment roadshow in Mumbai that saw India Inc committing to pour Rs 33,000 crore into the most populous state.

Yadav also appealed to the investors to look at the ground situation and not be guided by perceptions which say the state has law and order problems.

"I want to call you to invest in UP and I will give all the facilities," Yadav told an audience comprising key executives from Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Group, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, RP Goenka group, the Tatas and Adani Group, among others at the UP investors' conclave.

He said over 40 agreements have been signed as part of the summit, which entail an investment of Rs 33,000 crore and create employment for 1.50 lakh people in the state.

The commitments were led by Japanese electronics firm Toshiba Power, which is building a 660-MW thermal power plant at Harduaganj at an investment of Rs 3,500 crore, while others who signed agreements included Korean electronics firm LG, Reliance Jio, Idea Cellular, Godrej Agrovet and ITC.

On sectoral basis, infrastructure sector leads in the agreements signed, with Rs 13,405 crore, followed by Food and Agro processing at Rs 6,630 crore and manufacturing at Rs 6,150 crore.

From the public forum, milk cooperative Amul announced an investment of Rs 600 crore. Telecom firm Idea Cellular said it will invest Rs 500 crore and power solutions provider Jackson Power said it will invest Rs 500 crore.

With questions being raised repeatedly over the actual investments on the ground following the mega announcements at such summits, Yadav said he is confident of money flowing in, as all the companies which have signed agreements already have a presence in the state in some form.

It can be noted that a slew of Indian states have started organising such mega events to attract investments following the successes achieved by Gujarat over the last decade.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the Gujarat model, has now been speaking of the need for the states to compete with each other for investments for the benefit of their people.