Advantage Assam Summit draws investments worth Rs. 70,000 Cr aiming for stronger economy
Guwahati, February 5: Terming Assam as ‘Gateway’ to connect ASEAN countries Advantage Summit acts as a vital platform for development ample amount of employment opportunities. Advantage Assam Summit has drawn core investments of nearly Rs.70,000 Crores in several sectors like petroleum, telecom, health and tourism.
The 1st ever global investors Assam summit has seen investment commitments to the tune of nearly Rs70,000 crore in various sectors, including petroleum, telecom, health and tourism, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said.
“It is a very good beginning. The response of the investors is very exciting and encouraging. I believe the investment commitments will make Assam a better economy,” CM Sonowal.
CM Sarbananda Sonowal said oil major ONGC committed Rs 13,000 Crores, another oil PSU Oil India Ltd. pledged an investment of Rs10,000 Crores. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd planning to invest Rs3,432 Crores and Rs3,410 Crores, respectively.
RIL Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani has announced an investment of Rs2,500 Crore in Assam in various sectors, including retail, petroleum, telecom, tourism and sports, creating jobs for at least 80,000 people over the next 3 years.
The Tata Trusts will invest Rs 2,000 Crores to implement a cancer care programme jointly with the Assam government in 17 centres across 15 districts of the state from next year, the project will see an investment of around Rs 2,000 Crores.
Indo-UK Institute of Health will be investing Rs 2,700 Crores, while Century Ply has shared plans of investing Rs 2,100 Crores. Spicejet Chief Ajay Singh has announced the plans of Rs 1,250 Crores investment in Assam through seaplanes to boost the tourism sector besides connecting Lakhimpur and Jorhat under the recently launched central government scheme ‘Udaan’.
Infinity Group will be investing Rs1,000 Crores in an IT park and real estate project in Guwahati, the Medanta Group proposed Rs500 Crores investment in the healthcare sector and Dalmia Bharat Cement announced an investment to the tune of Rs1,100 Crores.
CM Sonowal said the investments will provide ample employment opportunities to the youth of the state. “We hope that Assam will be the gateway for India to connect ASEAN countries,” he said.
Assam Tourism, which is one of the key focus areas of the government, saw an investment proposal to the tune of Rs 736 Crores and infrastructure sector saw a total investment proposal worth Rs 2,347 Crores.
Other major companies announcing investments in Assam are BPCL (Rs350 Crores), Essel Infraprojects (Rs 6,000 Crores), Star Cement (Rs2,100 Crores), Infinity Infotech Parks (Rs1,000 Crores) and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India (Rs400 Crores).
Assam government has identified 12 focus sectors for the summit, including agriculture and food processing, handloom-textile-handicrafts, logistics, river transport-port township, IT-ITeS, pharmaceutical-medical equipment, plastics-petrochemicals and power.
Assam has hosted its first global investors' summit to showcase its manufacturing opportunities and geostrategic advantages to foreign and domestic investors. The summit aimed at highlighting Assam’s geostrategic advantages and core competencies in different sectors along with the policy initiatives taken by the state government.
Around 200 deals were inked worth Rs 70,000 Crores during Advantage Summit.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Summit, was accompanied by Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, several Union ministers, Chief Ministers of neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, Ambassadors and High Commissioners of 16 countries, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekharan.