MP: Govt looks at global investors’ summit with renewed hopes

The Madhya Pradesh government will hold its flagship event ‘Global Investors’ Summit’ (GIS) in October this year, but it will have to improve its ability to convert offers into real investment to make the most of such summits, sources said on Thursday.

The Madhya Pradesh government will hold its flagship event ‘Global Investors’ Summit’ (GIS) in October this year, but it will have to improve its ability to convert offers into real investment to make the most of such summits, sources said on Thursday.

Official figures show that out of total agreements worth Rs 5.89 lakh crore received during GIS 2014, projects worth about Rs 1.96 lakh crore are in various stages of implementation. (HT file)

The GIS 2016 will be held in Indore from October 21 to 23. The announcement to this effect was made during the ongoing Make in India conclave at Mumbai.

Experts view the announcement of summit dates at the Make in India venue optimistically. But, they say the state would have to do some serious introspection to convert proposals into to investments as the past figures show a dismal conversion rate.

Official figures show that out of total agreements worth Rs 5.89 lakh crore received during GIS 2014, projects worth about Rs 1.96 lakh crore are in various stages of implementation. In rupee terms, the implementation rate has been about 34%. During that event, the government had received 3,165 investment proposals worth Rs 4.36 lakh crore from investors who registered on the official website. Also investments to the tune of Rs 1.53 lakh crore were announced by private sector companies during the summit.

Confederation of Indian Industry’s state council chairman Girish Mangla said, “The data indicates that many investors who had signed MoUs during previous summits were not serious, but it is also a reflection of global economic slowdown.”

According to Assocham, the pace of implementation of projects in MP has remained tardy, and the state will have to remove certain bottlenecks in terms of availability of raw material, land and clearances if it wanted results on the ground.

State industries commissioner VL Kantha Rao said the state government had not signed any MoUs but received ‘intent to invest’ and most of them were online. So many investors might not have done their homework. “For instance, if an industrialist had proposed big investment for setting up a steel plant but had subsequently realized that he would not be able to get iron ore from Madhya Pradesh he would have pulled out,” he said.

According to official figures, Madhya Pradesh received a total investment of Rs 1.82 lakh crore in the two year period between 2012 and 2014. However, more than 40% proposals received during that summit were also cancelled.