Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the third groundbreaking ceremony and laid the foundation stones of 1,406 projects worth more than Rs 80,000 crore in Lucknow on Friday.
The Memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for these projects were signed during the first UP Investors’ Summit in 2018. The projects include diverse fields like agriculture, information technology (IT) and electronics, micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME), manufacturing, renewable energy, pharmacy, tourism, defence and aerospace, and handloom and textile.
Inviting leading industry tycoons to visit his parliamentary constituency Varanasi to explore opportunities there, the prime minister said, "The investors have a golden opportunity to invest in UP as the government is promoting natural farming. With the Ganga flowing through 25 to 30 districts of Uttar Pradesh covering around 11,000 kilometres, with the provision in Union cabinet for building a natural farming corridor on both sides of the Ganga for a stretch of five kilometres each, in addition to Uttar Pradesh government’s food processing policy, investors have a ‘golden opportunity’ in the agricultural sector.”
Modi remarked, "It is not a small thing that a government has been re-elected for a second time in a row in UP. It shows that the government has earned the confidence of the people. Investors are willing to invest in the state because of the improved law and order situation, investment-friendly atmosphere and the infrastructural development taking place under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. "
Modi made the remarks after laying the foundation stones of 1,406 projects. In attendance were Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and top business leaders, including Gautam Adani and Kumar Mangalam Birla.
“I am confident that Uttar Pradesh, with its consumer base of 16 per cent, will give momentum to India’s growth story. Every sixth man in the country is from Uttar Pradesh. More than a dozen towns in the state have a population of over 5 lakh. Every district has a special product, which is being promoted by the government. The state has the highest number of MSMEs. The state produces all grains and a wide variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables," the prime minister pointed out.
Modi further said, "India saw a record FDI of 84 billion USD last year. Today, the world is seeing India's potential and appreciating its performance. We are growing the fastest among the G20 economies. India is at number two in the Global Retail Index."
As the National Democratic Alliance government completes eight years at the centre, the prime minister compared the pre-2014 and post-NDA era, saying, "Before 2014, we had only a few hundred startups. But today the number of registered startups is reaching around 70,000-mark. More recently, India has also made a record of 100 unicorns. The previous Union government ignored the country’s development."
"Last year, a record FDI of $84 billion came from more than 100 countries of the world. India has created a new record in the last financial year by exporting merchandise worth more than $ 417 billion or Rs 30 lakh crore rupees," the prime minister added.
"In 2014, there were only 65 million broadband subscribers in our country. Today their number has exceeded 78 crore. In 2014, one GB of data used to cost around Rs 200. Today its price has come down to Rs 1-12. India is one of the countries in the world that has such cheap data," Modi further underlined.
"We have worked to strengthen India as a nation with our reforms. 'One Nation-One Tax GST, 'One Nation-One Grid', 'One Nation-One Mobility Card', 'One Nation-One Ration Card' etc. are a reflection of our solid and clear policies," he stressed.
The first Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit was held on July 29, 2018 and the second one on July 28 the next year.
The ceremony was attended by leading industrialists Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group; Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group; Niranjan Hiranandani of the Hiranandani Group, Matthieu Eyries of Air Liquide; Sanjeev Puri of ITC Ltd, Sajjan Jindal of Jindal Group, and Yusuf Ali of Lulu Group among others, the government said.