The three-day ‘Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015’ kicked off in the early morning of January 11, 2015 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business conglomerates and other leaders from India and abroad. This is the 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit. All the summits held so far have set an example of a visionary approach of the State Government towards its emphasis on sustainable and inclusive development of Gujarat.
Background
Vibrant Gujarat Summit started in 2003. It is an idea conceived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then the Chief Minister of Gujarat. So far, with the current one, the State has had seven summits, each summit taking place after every two years. The idea was to create a brand “Vibrant Gujarat”, which all States could follow. The yearly summits gradually converted into “investors summit”. All these summits have been successful in making Gujarat a “Global Business Hub” today. It has gradually been transformed into a perfect platform for sharing knowledge, social and business information. All the summits held so far have been a great success in showing the growth prospects of the State, its strengths, progressive attitude and the plans and initiatives taken so far to provide effective governance, investor friendly atmosphere and strengthening of art and culture of the State.
Prime Objective of the Summit
Inclusive development of the State, which includes
- Sustainability
- Innovation
- Skill development
- Youth development
- Networking
- Knowledge sharing
Focus Sectors of Vibrant Gujarat 2015
- Healthcare Industry (Healthcare Infrastructure, Ayurveda)
- Sustainable Development (Urban Development, Water Recycling, Desalination)
- Ports & Ship Building Industry of Gujarat
- Renewable Energy (Conventional Energy, Non-conventional Energy)
- Avenues for Investment in Gujarat – Mega Projects (Special Investment Region, Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region, Dholera Special Investment Region, Gujarat International Finance Tec – City etc.)
- Tourism Industry
- Indigenization of the Indian Defense Industry
- 50 Disruptive Technologies
- Environment
- Agriculture & Food Business
- Innovation and R&D
- Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
- Manufacturing & Engineering
- Digital Gujarat and Services Sector
- Biotechnology and Nano Technology
- Skill Ecosystem and Human Capital etc.
Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015: Major Highlights
- 14 country seminars
- 25,000 delegates
- 8 partner countries
- 1,250 companies participated
- 400 B2B meetings
- 21,000 investment intentions
- 110 countries participated
- 1,225 strategic partnership agreements
- Rs 25,00,000 crore investment
- Over 21,000 MoUs Signed
- 17,000 MoUs for Small and Medium Enterprise
Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015: Outcome
Like the previous summits, this year too, the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held from January 11 to 13, 2015 was a great success. Some of the major outcomes of this year summit are as follow:
- This year, the investment commitments that that State had managed to get from Corporates was a big sum of Rs 25 lakh crore. In fact, the investment figures for the State have risen continually, from a Rs 66,000 crore in 2003 to Rs 20.83 lakh crore in 2011, and Rs 25 lakh crore in 2015.
- More than 21,000 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed during this summit, out of which over 17,000 were related to micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.
- Around 4,000 MoUs were signed related to large sector industries and 10,119 for Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation.
- The number of MoUs signed this year was more than the previous summit by 3,585.
- The Gujarat government has also entered into more than 1,200 strategic partnership agreements with focus on 36 sectors.
- Mukesh Ambani, chief of Reliance Industries, announced that his group would invest Rs 1 lakh crore in the next one year across various businesses
- Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group also announced investment plans for Rs 20,000 crore in Gujarat.
- The US business delegation that came to attend the summit has considered a potential investment target of around $41 billion in India in the next 3-4 years.
- Sam Walsh, the CEO of the Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced that the group would add 30,000 jobs in diamond cutting industry in the State.
- Diversified Kalyani Group will invest Rs 600 crore for up-gradation and overhaul of Armoured Fighting Vehicles unit at Dholera, Gujarat
- Welspun Renewables announced Rs 8,300 crore investment to set up 1,000 MW solar and wind capacities in Gujarat.
Major feedback by foreign delegates
- Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Japanese auto giant Suzuki Corp considered the State to be superior in terms of infrastructure and administration.
- World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, said tax and subsidy reforms are required for inclusive growth in the country. He also said that the country is likely to grow at a rate of 6.4% in 2015 and will grow further in the next year on following the steps taken by the Narendra Modi-led Government.
- US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Narendra Modi’s slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” has inspired hin greatly.
- Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank, said that India should be the leader in removing poverty.
- Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister, Republic of Macedonia, said that during recession, India has helped in Global Economy.
- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, UN, said that Gujarat can be the crossroad for development.
- Simon Smits, Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade, Govt. of the Netherlands, said that Vibrant Gujarat is a flagship event for investment in India.
