Uttar Pradesh Districts show the way in investment

LUCKNOW:  In order to give a push to the economy and emerge as a robust growth engine in the country, the Uttar Pradesh government has reached out to local investors at the district level, organising investors’ summits across the state for the first time. The initiative has so far fetched investment proposals of over Rs 11 lakh crore from the districts.

The initiative was prompted by the response from the first investors’ summit in Barabanki district, adjoining Lucknow, in the run-up to the Global Investors’ Summit 2023. The idea of mobilising entrepreneurs at the local level involves connecting all 75 districts with the main event in Lucknow through video links on February 10-12.

Early last month, the district magistrates were directed to organise the summits in their respective districts. During the events, agenda for each district was shared with the potential local investors. As part of the exercise, senior officials at the level of additional chief secretary, principal secretary and secretaries were instructed to meet the prominent investors and resolve their issues.

“From Shahjahanpur, Shamli and Barabanki to Badaun and Azamgarh, local entrepreneurs across the state exhibited great enthusiasm over the innovative idea of district-level meets and the changed scenario,” a senior state government official said.

Gautam Buddha Nagar industrial department signed investment proposals worth Rs 5,87,000 crore, with investors interested in setting up units in Noida and Greater Noida under the jurisdiction of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida). Ghaziabad, the second district in the National Capital Region, has signed agreements worth Rs 92,000 crore.

Surprisingly, Jhansi in the Bundelkhand region, which is considered one of the backward and least industrialised parts of Uttar Pradesh, has emerged as a hot investment destination for the business community. At a one-day investors’ meet in the district, Jhansi outperformed many other prominent districts like Lucknow, Varanasi and Ayodhya in terms of getting total investment. It has received 146 proposals worth Rs 1,11,610.90 crore. Out of this, agreements have been signed for investment of Rs 65,000 crore, including Rs 50,000 crore for projects in the energy sector.

As per the senior state government officials, the investment coming through GIS-2023 is likely to generate over two crore direct and indirect employment opportunities.  The most noticeable aspect of several of these proposals are that around Rs 7.16 lakh crore, which makes nearly 25% of all investments, have also been coming from abroad.