Jharkhand: A well-oiled destination for investors

The Government of Jharkhand recently launched its maiden investment promotion campaign branded ‘Momentum Jharkhand’. Meant to promote a ‘Digital Jharkhand’, the event opened with the unveiling of the brand logo and launch of the campaign website momentumjharkhand.com.

Addressing delegates, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand   Raghubar Das said in his opening remarks, “Jharkhand is the most investment-ready state with crystal-clear vision and a robust roadmap. We rank among the best in terms of business reforms and have instituted best practices to fast-forward investments, based on DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion) guidelines. It is my privilege to work in tandem with our  Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on the Central Government’s vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas.” Chief Minister Das also holds charge of the industry ministry in Jharkhand.

The Government of Jharkhand signed memoranda of understanding with cement major ACC Limited and technology multinational Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP). The MoU with ACC enables the capacity expansion of its Sindri Plant from 1.35 MMTPA to 2.5 MMTPA. Two MoUs were signed with the Hewlett Packard Enterprise. One is in the area of step down primary healthcare, which focuses on healthcare delivery and education through the cloud based e-HC system. This is being evolved to respond to the issues of last mile healthcare delivery and education to underserved areas. The other MoU is intended to provide virtual classrooms to enhance the reach of education efforts through ICT augmented technologies.

The Chief Minister congratulated the Prime Minister and the Government of India for their success at realizing the Goods and Services Tax reform. ‘One country, one tax’ will now be a reality. Prime Minister Modi has become India’s global brand ambassador. We aspire that India be a global economic super power. Jharkhand will play a decisive role in accomplishing this aspiration.

“With 40 per cent of India’s mineral reserves, Jharkhand will fuel the ‘Make in India’ mission. Nonetheless, several developmental challenges remain. But these offer tremendous opportunities for investors, who can be pivotal partners in progress. Aiming to become a developed state by 2020, we will strive to skill two million youth within this timeframe,” Chief Minister Das said. Stressing his Government’s firm commitment towards industrial harmony, CM Das continued: “Through highly-responsive governance mechanisms, we ensure near-perfect industrial harmony. The DIPP assessments on Business Reforms prove our unparalleled progress on labour reforms — ample testimony to the stable culture of the State’s people and their outlook towards organized systems of livelihood.”

Besides those from India, more than 9,000 delegates attended the Summit from partner countries – Japan, Czech Republic, Tunisia and Mongolia – as well as from 28 other nations such as Australia, the US, the UK, Ukraine, Russia, China, Canada, Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Sudan, Korea, UAE, Italy, Oman, Venezuela and Pakistan, among others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a message of support to the Global Investors’ Summit: “Jharkhand has taken several noteworthy steps to improve the ‘Ease of Doing Business’. The State’s strategic location is key to the development of the entire Eastern region. Its mineral wealth has a vital role to play in the success of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. I’m sure the Summit will provide a good occasion for the State to apprise the global investor community about the conducive business climate that Jharkhand offers. I extend my best wishes for the success of the Summit and hope it will deliver concrete outcomes, enabling Jharkhand to emerge as one of India’s new growth engines.”

Echoing the Prime Minister’s message of support, Central Ministers such as Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Venkaiah Naidu, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Sudarshan Bhagat and Jayant Sinha were all present on the inaugural day. The ministers who spoke all expressed the Centre’s support for the Summit and Jharkhand’s development initiatives.

Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge)  Piyush Goyal said: “The integrity, enthusiasm and commitment of the present leadership of Jharkhand is commendable. As an investment destination, Jharkhand has huge potential because of the availability of low-cost power and low-cost land.”

Union Minister of Textiles  Smriti Irani said: “The Chief Minister has proposed a mega textile park at Deogarh. I’m hopeful we will see exponential growth with these initiatives. The Centre will extend full technical and financial support to uplift Jharkhand’s Textile industry.”

Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said: “The State is planning a multi-modal hub, which can become a growth engine for Jharkhand. While roads and Railways cost Rs 1.5 and Rs 1 each, waterways cost only 20 paise. Waterways will reduce the logistics costs of industry.”

Union Minister of Urban Development  Venkaiah Naidu said: “The Chief Minister has the support of the Centre since the Prime Minister is keen on cooperative federalism. That is why we are here to support the State. The youth of today want development. Ranchi will be established as India’s first green-field Smart City.”

In her address to the august gathering, Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma stated: “We would like to convey the paradigm shift in Jharkhand’s investment landscape. We believe investors are our partners in progress. The State also has a long history of industrial harmony. We are looking at building mega industrial corridors and mini-growth centres.”

Industry leaders such as Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia, Naveen Jindal, Anil Agarwal, Naushad Forbes, Rajesh Adani and Sudhir Dhingra, among others, were also present during the inaugural proceedings. All of them expressed their support for the Summit, with some mentioning specific investments planned for Jharkhand.

Ratan Tata, Interim Chairman, Tata Group, said: “My first job in India was in Jamshedpur where I worked for six years. To promote development, India will have to widen its base to new places. Jharkhand is one such place where the opportunity for development is immense. I urge my compatriots, both in India and beyond, to embrace the opportunities in this exciting land.”

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, said: “Today, all our companies with major businesses such as metals, mining and mobile telephony have a presence in Jharkhand. The Chief Minister and his team are taking the State to another level. I am bullish on the future growth prospects in Jharkhand and we will raise our presence here even more significantly.”

Anil Agarwal, Founder-Chairman, Vedanta Resources Plc, said: “This is a ghar-wapasi (home-coming) for me. In Jharkhand, we have no investments but it is my commitment we will invest Rs5,000 crore as a pilot investment. While 90 per cent of exploration has happened globally, it is only 10 per cent  in India. The natural and human resources available in Jharkhand are not available anywhere.”

The Brand Ambassador of Jharkhand,  Mahendra Singh Dhoni, also voiced his support for the Summit during his short speech and identified himself as a son of Jharkhand’s soil. Ambassadors from partner countries and other nations present on the occasion also extended their support for Jharkhand as a premier investment destination.

Meanwhile, almost all important happenings at the summit were webcast live on Facebook, giving a push to the popularity of the summit on the social media space.On Twitter, #MomentumJharkhand trended for 7 hours at various slots, ranging from position 1 to 5, which was indicative of its outreach and engagement with Twitterati, a communique from the government said.

A particularly significant contribution of the campaign is the amount of positive content and stories generated in online space for Jharkhand business and investment environment, which will stay and will always contribute to any future investment lead campaigns, it added.

State plans its next Global Investors’ Summit in 2019-20. The maiden summit that concluded attracted investment proposals worth over Rs 3 lakh crore.

With the penetration of internet to villages, the social media plays an instrumental role in branding and advertising of any event, product or personality in India.

“Our campaign was a huge success on the social media. The overwhelming response lasted for hours,” said Sunil Barnwal, state IT secretary.

by Nilabh krishna

from Ranchi