Strong drive needed to bring investments in MP

Bangalore, Apr 7: Resource rich Madhya Pradesh, predominently a rural economy is now going full stream to attract industrial investment to fully tap the potential M P Industry and Commerce Minsiter Babulal Gaur said today.

Currently in Karnataka to woo industrialists, Mr Gaur, a former Chief Minister of MP told UNI that the State was offering a load of incentives such as affordable land, tax benefits, peaceful industrial climate and abundant power to set up industries in MP.

Mr Gaur said he had met 15 top industrialists at a meeting arranged by FICCI. This included the Junjhunwala Group, which offered to invest Rs 400 crore in an apparel park in Bhopal, I S Mittal who wanted to set up an SEZ for ITeS, S N Agarwal of Bharuka group who expressed interest in setting up mini hydel stations.

''We are holding a Industrialists Meet in Bhopal in October to showcase our Master Plan-2007, which offers huge benefits for investors coming to MP. The state offers very good potential in heavy industries like cement and metals, apart from textile and apparel, energy, leather, auto parts, glass and coal based industries,'' he said.

Mr Gaur said MP was a power surplus state with 2000 mw of installed capacity and there was huge potential for investors if they preferred to put in their money in hydro power by setting up plants in Narmada, Sardar Sarovar, Riva, Maheshwar, Bansagar.

''We have found top quality coal bed methane in Shadol district and there are many other locations with huge deposits. For the first time in India Reliance Industries led by Mukesh Ambani has already dug ten wells to harness methane from a depth of 500-600 metres. The gas mixed in water also offers great sources of potable water. The group is investing Rs 4000 crore in the project that will be completed in 2009. They would supply methane, which will be cheaper than coal,'' he said.

He said he had toured many places in the country scouting for investments and also visited Japan and China last year. His next destination would be to the US in May to woo NRIs and then would visit Switzerland.

He said the new policy to attract investment had resulted in investment of Rs 4000 crore worth projects completed during the last one year. Projects with an investment of Rs 40,000 were at various levels of implementation and would be completed during the next two years. The government had signed MoUs for projects carrying an investment Rs 1,00,000, he said .

''The other important sector, which can look at MP as an attractive destiny is the ITeS. We have 30 engineering colleges in Bhopal alone and 46 in Indore. 20,000 engineering graduates pass out of colleges every year. According to a study our student's English accent is better than those in Delhi. This means MP is a better destiny for BPO and ITeS industry, he said.

UNI