By Sourabh Gupta, IANS,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh has invited a host of global Fortune 500 companies to its first major investor conclave next month to showcase the new quarters of its capital city and attract domestic and overseas capital to a land pool of some 1,500 hectares.
“This kind of event is happening for the first time in the state,” Commerce and Industry Secretary Dinesh Srivastava said, ahead of the “Global Investors Meet” in Naya Raipur, Nov 2-3, themed: “Credible Chhattisgarh”. “We have invited top fortune 500 companies.”
After core sectors like power, steel and cement, the Chhattisgarh government wants to bring downstream sectors like IT and related areas, biotech, banking, food processing, herbal products and automobiles to the state, Srivsatava said.
“Chhattisgarh is a young state. Twelve years is nothing for any state. But we have done tremendous progress.” Srivsatava said, adding that a land pool of 1,500 hectares is now ready in Naya Raipur, whish sprawls over 8,000 hectares.
Srivsatava said Chhattisgarh had several advantages to its credit:
-Seventy percent of initial agreements have all been implemented
-The new automobile policy is better that what is offered by Tamil Nadu
-A new solar power policy is being unveiled in a few days
-The Surat-Paradip pipeline passes through the state to offer adequate gas
-The state has a decent per capita income of Rs.44,000
-Per capita energy consumption at 1,552 units is the highest in the country
-The is a surplus production of electricity
-Land is easily available
-There are no labour disputes
-The cost of setting up industries is among the lowest in the country.
To publicise the meet and invite industrialists, the government just completed a series of roadshows in major cities. “We were out marketing the state for the first time. We were surprised to see investors are very much interested,” the top bureaucrat said.
According to him, signing of draft agreements with companies was not as important as implementation of projects. “Downstream sectors did not require much investment, but generated high employment. Our aim is to create between 50,000-60,000 jobs.”