Vibrant Gujarat Summit: State govt expects to sign record investment pacts

New Delhi: The Gujarat government expects to sign a record number of investment pacts in the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, although state officials remain non-committal on the participation of American electric car maker Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk.

The biennial event, which is making a comeback this year after the COVID-19 pandemic-induced break, will be focussing on the theme 'Gateway to the Future', with a focus on futuristic technologies and emerging sectors like green hydrogen, electric mobility, semiconductor, space-related manufacturing and sustainability.

The summit, to be held on January 10-12, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar.

"This edition will see the maximum number of investments coming into the state compared to the previous Vibrant Gujarat summits," Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Rahul Gupta told reporters here in an interaction.

He said the summit's 2019 edition witnessed a record 28,360 numbers of projects and MoUs (memorandum of understanding) signed. In 2017, it was 24,744, and in 2015, it was 21,304.

Asked about the participation of Musk, who has been widely reported to be attending the summit to announce investments to set up a manufacturing unit in the state, Gupta said there is no confirmation on it.

On whether Tesla has approached the state government to set up its manufacturing plant, he said, "Not to the best of my knowledge, the company has applied".

He, however, asserted Gujarat continues to be the most preferred destination for investments in electric vehicle manufacturing and its infrastructure.

Gupta said in the run-up to the event under the 'Vibrant Gujarat Vibrant Districts' programme held in October and November last year, the state has already signed over 2,600 MoUs with investment commitments of over Rs 46,000 crore, mostly in traditional sectors like ceramics, textiles and food processing.

Already, over 1 lakh delegates have registered so far for this year's edition of the summit, he said, adding that 32 countries have been confirmed as partner countries as compared to 15 in the 2019 edition.

Many leading industrialists from India and abroad, including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Laxmi Mittal, Anil Agarwal, Uday Kotak and Kumar Mangalam Birla, among others, are expected to attend the event.