NEW DELHI: In a bid to douse the political fire over Vedanta’s last-minute decision to shift its Rs 1.5 lakh crore semiconductor project to Gujarat, the conglomerate’s chairman Anil Agarwal took to Twitter on Wednesday to defend his decision. In a series of tweets, Agarwal said Vedanta and Foxconn were professionally assessing sites for multi-billion dollar investment. He claimed this is a scientific and financial process which typically takes several years.
“We started this about two years ago. Our team of internal and external professional agencies shortlisted a few states — Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, TN etc to help achieve our purpose. For the last 2 years, we have been engaging with each of these governments as well as central government & have received fantastic support,” he tweeted.
He said the company had decided on Gujarat a few months ago as the state met expectations. “We have to start in one place, and based on professional and independent advice we chose Gujarat,” he said, adding that the Maharashtra government had also approached the company with a very competitive offer in a bid to outbid other states.
According to him, the multibillion-dollar long-term project will change the course of Indian electronics. “We will create a pan-India ecosystem & are fully committed to investing in Maharashtra as well. Maharashtra will be our key to forward integration in our Gujarat JV,” said Agarwal. He added that his company will soon manufacture iPhones, TV equipment, and electric vehicles in Maharashtra.