By Parveen Chopra
New York, Oct 10 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda is on his first visit to North America to invite foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s fastest growing state.
He is leading a high-level delegation of state officials and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) leaders on an eight-day trip that started in New York Monday.
The delegation, including Hero group chairman Brij Mohan Lall Munjal and Haryana irrigation minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, is scheduled to visit Washington, Los Angeles and Toronto for two days each.
The team has held ‘encouraging’ meetings with bankers in New York and prominent NRIs in New Jersey and Long Island.
Speaking at the Long Island meeting, Hooda emphasised, “We are particularly looking for investment in research and development.”
The chief minister said the factors that make Haryana the best destination for NRIs and other investors include time-bound clearance of projects, hassle-free industrial policy, incentives, stable polity, vastly improved infrastructure and proximity to Delhi.
Citing a recent report by the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent agency, he said that Haryana has the highest per capita investment among Indian states in this fiscal.
The report analysed that the total investment under implementation in Haryana in June 2007 was more than Rs.1.86 trillion.
“My objective is to take the figure to Rs.2 trillion,” said Hooda.
Last year, when he went on a similar visit to Europe, MoUs for FDI worth Rs.120 billion were signed.