Proposed Nagpur-Mumbai Super communication way will be a game changer in Maharashtra  – Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

CM launches CII Yes Bank report on ‘Tourism Industry in Maharashtra : Focus Vidarbha at CII Vidarbha Investment Summit.

A befitting time to put Vidarbha in the spotlight: Sudhir Mehta.

CII Vidarbha Investment Summit & Exposition 2016 to boost investments in Vidarbha

Mumbai,  16 December, 2016 (GPN) : 

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)  in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra organized the Vidarbha Investment Summit & Exposition 2016 here today in Nagpur. The Summit was organized with a clear objective to showcase the business potential & opportunities available in the region. The summit provided a platform for meaningful, business related & result oriented discussions among prospective investors, local entrepreneurs & Government Authorities.

Mr Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra in his inaugural address said that now was a perfect time to focus, invest and expand in Vidarbha. Mr Fadnavis said that the development projects being undertaken by his government in the region will put Vidarbha on the global map. With the GST rollout, logistics in the country will be concentrated here, making Nagpur a logistics hub. The Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway project launched by the State Government would be a game changer.The project will create state-of-the art road connectivity and also provide a boost to investment. The expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between Nagpur to Mumbai for passenger travel to lesser than 10 hours and  for cargo travel this commute time would be lesser than 14 hours. The project is also expected to provide a boost to the economic growth in the 10 passing districts and 14 adjoining districts. He also said that the region has many advantages like uninterrupted power and water supply, land availability which are the necessary ingredients to attract investors.

Nagpur is set to be become an educational hub with premier institutions of national repute like IIT, IIM, AIIMS planning to start operations here. Mr Fadnavis also said that Patanjali will set up Asia’s largest food park here in Nagpur and has also taken up land here, which fits into their plans to make Nagpur an export hub.

Congratulating CII on creating a platform to bring investors together and showcase the investment potential of the Vidarbha region, he reiterated his commitment and support to the economic growth of the region.

Mr Fadnavis spoke on his commitment to address policy decisions for the industry. Talking on the  State’s Government policy on Power tariff, he said that his government is giving bigger incentives on power tariff for industries in the Vidarbha region, thus encouraging industries to look at this region as a preferred investment destination. The Electronics and fab policy of the state government is another dynamic policy offering incentives to industries investing in Vidarbha and Marathwada region. Talking on the vast and untapped tourism potential of the region, he pointed out that Maharashtra is the first state to create forest conservancy with huge area to consider for investment and urged delegates and investors to also look at the tourism and hospitality sector for investments.

Maharashtra has a strong infrastructure, contributing to 15% of the country’s GDP and also has a significant share in exports and FDI with Vidarbha contributing more than 15% to the state’s GDP, said Mr Subhash Desai, Hon’ble Industries Minister of Maharashtra while delivering a special address during the Summit. He pointed that under the dynamic leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vidarbha is witnessing economic growth as never before.  The Nagpur Metro project planned by the State Government will not only contribute to economic growth but also generate employment opportunities in the surrounding areas.

Though Industries were only looking at developed areas like Mumbai and Pune for investment, the tide is now changing in favour of regions like Vidarbha. The textile park in Amravati is one such shining example where an ecosystem of large industries co exits with smaller players. 11 industries who are leaders in textile have set up shop here. The State Government plans to set up textile parks in primarily cotton growing areas, like Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh. He also spoke about the Government’s plans to develop 10 textile parks in the state primarily in cotton growing regions like Northern Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada and that this would ensure that there would be value addition to the cotton production in the state along the entire value chain from farm-fabric-fashion route.

Quoting recent statistics released by DIPP(Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion), he said of the total FDI inflows into the country, Maharashtra received more than 50% FDI in the last six months and this is much higher as compared to other states. The investments coming in have been in various sectors like: auto, textiles, telecom, IT and networking, pharma. He added that the Government endeavours that a large chunk of this investment will come to the Vidarbha region.

Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman – CII Vidarbha Investment Summit 2016 and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd in his address said that Vidarbha has been successful in attracting industries ranging from food processing, textiles, power, engineering and logistics owing to its central location, good road, rail and now air connectivity, strong agricultural base, and other inherent advantages. Citing few success stories of companies like Haldiram’s Ruchi Soya & ITC in the food processing segment, he said that companies in this segment have benefitted from the availability of good cold storage and warehousing facilities in this region.

Dr Goenka also said that the region has attracted investments from international players like Boeing. His own company has one of our largest and oldest tractor plant in Nagpur with a capacity of more than 1 lakh tractor annually, which accounts for 37 % of its total tractor production. The Nagpur plant makes Nuvo & Yuvo, its flagship brands. He also said that the IT Industry is booming here and Nagpur is now seen as the next destination for IT Industry, city already has 4 IT parks with more than 200 IT companies employing around 5500 employees.

Dr Goenka said that the State Government is keen on leveraging  Vidarbha’ s strengths and facilitate the region’s transformation into a premium investment destination for a host of industries and the State’s New Industrial Policy, the New Textile Policy & State Agro Industrial Policy, will provide an impetus to industrial investments in Vidarbha region.

He also added that the region has a diverse talent pool for skilled workforce for industry and that with strong Government support, Vidarbha is now well poised for an exponential growth in coming years.

Mr Sudhir Mehta, Chairman CII Western Region and Chairman and Managing Director, Pinnacle Industries said that CII has set up the Make in Maharashtra Task Force to promote    ‘Brand Maharashtra’ and it is from this that the idea of organizing a platform to facilitate investments into the state germinated.

He spoke about the launch of ‘Maitri’ Investment cell as well as the investor helpline set up by the State Government and said that it was a step in the right direction to support and hand hold investors, both large and small.  He also spoke about CII- Water Institute’s WATSCAN (Water Resource Evaluation and Planning Tool) initiative for watershed evaluation and that the studies have been completed in Washim, Yawatmal and Akola Districts in Vidarbha region. The main objective is to improve the water scenario of the identified drought prone districts, as per the vision of the Hon’ble Chief Minister.

Mr Mehta spoke about key initiatives started by CII in Vidarbha region like organizing interactive session on Angel Investing, several interactions like IT Forum of Vidarbha, forum on facilitating implementation of energy efficient technologies, buyer – seller meets in defence manufacturing and specialized programs on Global Best Practices and Strategies for Brand Protection in India just to name a few.

He also said that with the year 2017 being announced as the ‘Visit Maharashtra’ year by the Hon’ble Chief Minister, tourism in this region is set to get a much needed boost and CII will continue to work with MTDC to improve tourism inflows.

A Russian delegation, led by Minister for Industries and Trade, Mr Denis Manturov, on Friday visited Multi-modal International Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) together with the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra signalling the regions attractiveness for foreign investment.

Vidarbha is a focus region for the State Government, said Mr Apurva Chandra, Principal Secretary, Industries, Government of Maharashtra while addressing delegates at the summit. Vidarbha is the centre of the country and a hub for the railways, road network and good air connectivity. Vidarbha is naturally endowed with land and MIDC offers very low rates in here as compared to other regions in the State. From the point of view of minerals it is the richest part of the state. Vidarbha has most of the factors for production, uninterrupted power and water supply, land and skilled manpower. He said the sectors that have been the strength of Vidarbha are the mining and textiles sector. He cited the example of Uttam Galva which is setting up a integrated steel plant and has expansion plans in Wardha. POSCO has tied up with Uttam Galva to set up an integrated technology steel plan here in Wardha and this will uplift the steel manufacturing profile of the Vidarbha region. Earlier there was an environmental moratorium in Pandharpur but steel plants there have restarted production. The mining industry has been revived in his region. With the amendment of the mining act by Goverment of India, the allotment of mines is now done by an auction and the system has become very transparent. He also added that 6 coal blocks have been awarded in the Vidarbha region and there are 17 more in the pipeline which is expected to create atleast 1 lakh employment opportunities in the mining sector in Vidarbha. More auctions will be done for minerals like tungsten, limestone and copper in the Nagpur region. He added that a mine has been allotted to Reliance cement (now acquired by Birla Corporaton) in Yavatmal under the permission of the Hon’ble Chief Minister. They are in a talks to set up a Rs 3000 crore greenfield cement plant in the Yavatmal district. Amravati has been one of the biggest success stories where an integrated textile park has been set up and it has generated a lot of interest among investors. Amravati will be one of the biggest drivers of textile growth in the country. He said that Hon’ble Minister has approved setting up of ten other textile parks, in the state and MIDC will be setting up two of them in Yavatmal and Buldhana districts.

Mr Apurva Chandra said that Food Processing is another sector of interest for the Government. Land has been allotted to Pantanjali and the plant is expected to start production within a year. He added that the State Government has approved 24 mega projects with whom MoU’s have been signed in the past few years with an investment of Rs 12,200 crores and will generate 21,800 jobs. MoU’s signed are across sectors like steel, aluminium manufacturing, textiles, food processing and other sectors and many will go into production like CEAT, Raymond, Uttam Galva. In the MSME sector, the State has signed 511 MoU’s with an investment of Rs 4394 Crore out of which 165 are already in production or will go into production shortly. The State Government is providing more incentives to the Vidarbha and Marathwada region as compared to other regions to facilitate economic growth.

The MoU signed with Sterlite during the Make in India week is expected to be the largest investment in the country and the State Government has offered Sterlite a capital subsidy investment of Rs 30000-40000 crore. He said that this investment will put Vidarbha in the take off stage.

Mr Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra launched the CII KPMG report on “Vidarbha – Realising Potential” during the Summit. The report highlighted the investment potential of the region and suggests possible measures for stakeholders who are keen on ensuring the integrated and holistic development of this region. The Hon’ble Chief Minister also launched a comprehensive report on tourism report on “Tourism Industry in Maharashtra: Focus Vidarbha” in partnership with YES Bank. The report showcases the rich cultural heritage of the region and vast untapped tourism potential.

The Summit also saw the launch of the CII Student Essay competition ‘The India we Want’ at the hands of the Hon’ble Chief Minister. The competition aims at evoking the aspirations of the youth on their perception of India. Students across the country from the 8^thstandard onwards can send in their entries in the form of essay, sketches, poetry, videos, paintings and even selfies. The competition will be judged by an eminent jury. The top 3 entries will win exciting prizes.

The day began with the first Panel Discussion on ‘Vidarbha – An Emerging Destination’. Mr Sudhir Mehta, Chairman CII Western Region moderated a well-represented panel from the Industry. The discussions highlighted the importance of this region as an emerging business destination.

CII Deputy Chairman, Mr Ninad Karpe moderate a panel discussion on’ The Opportunities to invest in Vidarbha’. The discussions also gave investors a perspective from the Government’s side besides Industry deliberations.

Ease of Doing Business is a crucial factor for Businesses to function smoothly and flourish in any region. Mr Nilay Varma, Partner & Head – Government Sector, KPMG led a discussion with prominent Industry members on this important topic.

It was interesting to know of some very successful stories from the region and have Industry experts from the region share their success mantras in the the panel discussion on  “Success Stories – Learnings from the Industry”.               

The Panel discussion on Tourism Development gave an insight on the vast tourism potential of the region and what the region has to offer to investors in this sector.

As part of the Summit, there was an exhibition where companies exhibited their products and technology.

Delegates from all over the country participated in the summit.