At the third ‘groundbreaking’ ceremony of the UP Investors Summit in Lucknow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that in the coming ten years, "Uttar Pradesh will be a big driving force for India." He also laid the foundation stone of over 1,400 projects to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh, news agency ANI reported.
Addressing the gathering at Ground Breaking Ceremony @ 3.0, UP Investors Summit in Lucknow, PM Modi said, "We recently completed 8 years of central governance. In these years, we progressed on the mantra of reform, perform, transform; focussed on policy stability, coordination & ease of doing business."
Highlighting India's growth, PM Modi said, "Today the world is seeing India's potential and appreciating India's performance. We are growing the fastest among the G20 economies. India is at number two in the Global Retail Index."
"Ganga is more than 1100 km long in UP, passes through 25-30 districts. Imagine the huge possibilities of natural farming. The state govt also announced a food processing scheme a few years ago. For the corporate world, it's a golden opportunity to invest in agriculture currently," he said.
Speaking about GST, PM Modi said, "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. All these efforts are a reflection of our solid and clear policies."
Among the politicians, CM Yogi Adityanath, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and others were present at the summit. Corporate bigwigs including Gautam Adani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sajjan Jindal, and Anant Ambani were also present.
Speaking about unemployment, CM Adityanath said: "The unemployment rate in Uttar Pradesh has decreased from 18% to 2.9%."
"UP increased its traditional enterprise export from Rs 88,000cr to Rs 1.56 lakh crores with effective action in schemes like 'One District One Product'," he added.
Total Estimated Investment
The investments are aimed to fund at least 805 projects in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, 275 in agriculture and allied industries, and 65 in pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, as per the official release. Other projects include six schemes related to education worth Rs 1,183 crore, seven related to dairy worth Rs 489 crore, and six in animal husbandry worth Rs 224 crore, as per the release.
The investments will largely focus on MSMEs as Uttar Pradesh has 90 lakh MSMEs — the highest — that constitute 14.2 per cent of all such projects in the country. The cash will flow to fund seven data centres worth Rs 19,928 crore, and 13 infrastructure projects worth 6,632 crores, the statement said.
Projects in agriculture and allied industries will attract investment of Rs 11,297 crore, IT and electronics will be allotted Rs 7,876 crore, and manufacturing is estimated to get Rs 6,227 crore.
(With ANI Inputs)