Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has invited US firms to take advantage of the  state-of-art  industrial infrastructure existing in the State with his core focus on having high-technology units in IT, engineering and renewable energy sectors, official sources informed.

 Singh, who is currently on a visit to the United States, is expected to meet a number of investors and industry captains in Chicago, New York and San Francisco.

Notably, Chhattisgarh had already been aggressively wooing defence component manufacturers to set up base in the State.

The State had been projecting its  pre-existing base of defence equipment suppliers around Durg-Bhilai-Raipur cluster as a strategic advantage for prospective investors, officials stated.

Notably , the Chhattisgarh Government decided to establish a ‘Defense Manufacturing Cluster’ in the State in August last year.

As per the plan, the project would comprise developing a Defense Research lab, a testing facility and a ‘Defense Smart City’, officials stated.

  For manufacture of defense goods, the State Government had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) with M/s Iren Systems.

 As per the MoU, M/s Iren Systems will develop a ‘Defense Technology City’ with state-of-art infrastructure.

 The move will create employment opportunities in the sector for highly-skilled and skilled youngsters of the State.

 In March this year, Chhattisgarh Industry Minister Amar Agarwal participated in the Global Investors Summit ‘Make in India for Defence Sector’ during Defexpo 2016 in South Goa.

 The event was organized by ASSOCHAM in association with Government of Chhattisgarh . The event was attended by high profile speakers and top management of global defence companies participated in the event, officials informed.

 It may also be recalled that US Ambassador to India Richard R. Verma had called on  Chief Minister Raman Singh at his office in the Mantralaya in Naya Raipur on October 25.

The Ambassador during his meeting with the Chief Minister said he would encourage the US investments in higher education, Innovation, Smart City, pharmaceutical companies, I.T. and medical field.

 Singh later gave a detailed presentation of immense investment potential for American companies in Chhattisgarh.

Present on the occasion were-- Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Information Technology Department Principal Secretary Aman Kumar Singh, Industry Department Secretary Subodh Kumar Singh, Public Relations Department Secretary Santosh Misra, American Consulate General Thomas Wajda and several senior officers.

It may be recalled that American and Chinese firms as well as other domestic industrial groups had evinced keen interest in investing in various sectors of Chhattisgarh in February this year.

Notably, a delegation of American Chamber of Commerce and US-India Business Council led by American Consul General Thomas Vajda had also met Chief Minister Raman Singh in Mumbai .

During the second day of the 'Make in India' event in Mumbai, the Chief Minister  had invited top investors to invest in Chhattisgarh.

During his discussion with the American and Chinese delegations, Singh had assured the delegates of providing every possible support for setting up industrial projects in Chhattisgarh.

Commerce and Industry Minister Amar Agrawal, Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) Chhagan Mundra and Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand were also present.

The American delegation had evinced interest for making investments in road sector, modernization of Railway stations, airports, warehouses, export of frozen agricultural products, water and sewerage treatment in Naya Raipur, Information Technology and Start-ups in Chhattisgarh.

An American delegation led by Consul for Political and Economic Affairs Raj Wadhwani and Ayesha Khan , Political Specialist of the Consulate General of USA in India called on senior officials of the Commerce & Industry Department of Chhattisgarh here on Thursday.

In order to explore potential areas of partnership,  the delegation was very keen to lay the groundwork for US companies on partnering the State and industrial units in Chhattisgarh, under Centre’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and wanted to leverage on the State’s strengths in “Ease of Doing Business”, officials stated.

A delegation from the same office, led by Thomas l. Vajda, visited the State last year on December 9 and this was the follow-up visit on the agenda of promoting Chhattisgarh as preferred investment destination in India to US-based companies operating in India or intending to operate in India.

In a meeting at the Mantralaya in Naya Raipur with Subodh Singh, Secretary, Commerce and Industries, Wadhwani congratulated the former and his team for emerging as one of the top States in India as per the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking exercise carried out by the Government of India and validated by the World Bank.

He also expressed his keenness in promoting the State to the US-based investors for considering it as a preferred investment destination.