Rajasthan organises roadshows to attract investors ahead of summit in Jaipur on January 24 and 25

In a bid to woo investors, Rajasthan has organised roadshows in various major cities prior to the investor's summit which will be held in Jaipur on January 24 and 25.

During the roadshows, the ministers and officials held heart-to-heart discussions with potential investors to showcase the state’s industrial potential. The investors were told that special efforts will be made to ensure speedy and timely disposal of converting all MoUs signed during the roadshows into reality.

Rajasthan is the largest state of India in respect of size and minerals and other natural wealth resources, but over the years, barring limestone which is the basic material for producing cement, no other mineral-based industry has attracted much investments in the state.

The Ashok Gehlot-led state government has undertaken a massive promotional drive to attract investment at a time when the country is limping back to regain the lost ground due to the pandemic. The “Invest Rajasthan 2022” is another endeavour of the state to woo investments.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot through various roadshows organised under the Rajasthan Foundation, has sent a clear message to investors, "Experience and benefit from the exciting opportunities Rajasthan has to offer".

"Rajasthan has gradually become the choice of investors as it provides ease of doing business and investors friendly policy framework. We are inviting them to connect back to the homeland with the upcoming Invest Rajasthan 2022,” Gehlot added.

“Invest Rajasthan 2022 is the manifestation of our commitment to building enduring partnerships with private enterprise for the development of the state and prosperity of our people. It is an important milestone towards delivering on the commitments made by us to investors," said Gehlot.

The state has identified mines & minerals, agri & food processing, energy, textiles, logistics, IT & ITeS, healthcare, leather & footwear, and MSMEs as core areas.

Investors such as Adani, REnew Power, GreenKo etc have committed to invest in the Green Energy sector in the state and some of the marquee investors groups have also lined up huge projects in various sectors from other countries and states of India.

“The Rajasthan government has carved a policy framework to accelerate the growth of the focus sectors,” Urban Development & Housing (UDH) minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal said.

Rajasthan has the maximum number of solar projects in India, he said, adding that the earlier issues of electricity and water in the state have been resolved.

While projecting the state as a valuable investment opportunity, Dhariwal said the cement manufacturers who invested in Rajasthan are getting full ROIs and their work is going on smoothly.

At present, the Rajasthan government has been able to sway investors to ink Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and Letters of Intent (LoIs) worth over Rs 5 lakh crore,

“Special efforts will be made to ensure speedy and timely disposal of converting all these agreements into reality and it shall be our endeavor to have groundbreaking ceremonies during the during the Summit this month,” said Shakuntala Rawat, state Industries Minister.

Rajasthan has ranked second in terms of energy efficiency as per the State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) 2020 released by the Ministry of Power. It ranks 4th in terms of industrial land availability with 10,762 hectares as per GIS-enabled repository developed by the Union government.

RIICO has been chosen as the best state industrial development corporation in the country for its ‘commendable performance’ in the pandemic-hit difficult year by the Council of State Industrial Development and Investment Corporations of India.

Rajasthan has topped in installed capacity of solar energy in India with 7737.95MW as per the state-wise report released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Out of box thinking and bold steps were taken by the Chief Minister like the new MSME Act which was passed by the government in its very first year of existence. While more than 100 permissions were required from over 25 departments to start an industry, the state formulated rules where no permission for any industries for three years would be required. This resulted in more than 12000 small sector units being established.

Sandstorms and infertile land used to be the identity of Rajasthan. Now the state is number one in renewable energy and the same sandy tracts are thriving with solar power.

In the tourism sector, it is focusing on new projects for hotels and resorts.

Rajasthan is writing its growth story and creating more jobs and more products which are made in the state.

“Our doors are open for investors across the globe. We are committed and keen to engage with you all as our development partners. An important partner for development includes the non-resident Rajasthanis. An important segment of our NRR Diaspora is the business families who originated from Rajasthan, who I know are present here in large numbers. We all know that the families of the most prominent businesspersons of India migrated mostly from Rajasthan in the mid-19th century, many of who settled in places like Kolkata and Mumbai. Their heritage was in Rajasthan and their ancestors grew up in the desert where to do anything you need to work hard. We salute their enterprise and their driving economy that can take care of its present and future generations. We believe private sector engagement is a key ingredient and pathway to achieve this goal. Our doors are open for investors across the globe,” said Dheeraj Shrivastav, chairman of the Rajasthan Foundation, the facilitating body of the state government.

“We are committed and keen to engage with the NRR as our development partners. An important partner for development includes the non-resident Rajasthanis. We act as a ‘One Stop Solution’ for NRIs/ NRRs & as a bridge between the State and NRRs. We work to enhance their cooperation in the progression of infrastructure, education, health, culture, and other areas of mutual interest and ensure the welfare of NRRs,” he added.

The Rajasthan government has already received investment proposals and interest worth over Rs 5 lakh crore from the roadshows to promote the upcoming investment summit.

"Mumbai roadshow has received investment commitments over Rs. 1,94,800 crore, Gujarat has committed over Rs 1,05,000 crore while from Delhi and Bengaluru we got proposals worth Rs 78,700 crore and Rs 74312 crore respectively," said Dhariwal

From the Dubai Expo, the state signed MoU and LoIs worth Rs 45,000

In the various roadshows which were a pre-Invest Summit 2022 promotional exercise, the state went to the investors with the following attributes:

* India’s best 68 industrial areas under leader category are in Rajasthan

as assessed by IPRS 2.0 (DPIIT).

* India’s biggest infrastructure project, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is taking shape 150 km on both sides of the Western DFC.

* RIICO is developing two major world- class Industrial Townships: the Marwar Industrial Cluster in south-central Rajasthan and Greater Bhiwadi Industrial Township close to the national capital.

*Rajasthan, geographically the largest the state of India offers land in plenty and at competitive prices.

*RIICO has 360+ well-developed industrial parks with robust infrastructure and facilities for units to set up in the state.

*Sector-specific parks for synergies within the sector are also available like Electronic Manufacturing Cluster, Medical Devices Park, FinTech Park, Apparel Park, Agro & Food Processing Zone, Auto Zone, Ceramic & Glass Zone, Electric Vehicle Zone and many more.

*The state has India’s 1st country specific zone viz. Japanese Zone at Neemrana.

*Agricultural Resources: Rajasthan is a leading producer of a large variety of crops with immense potential for value addition and exports. For instance, the state is India’s the largest producer of mustard, medicinal & aromatic crops, moth beans, garlic, bajra, guar gum, coriander and isabgol.

*Mineral Resources: Rajasthan is the second largest mineral producing state in India with 81 major and minor minerals. It is the largest on-shore producer of crude oil and the sole producer of zinc and lead in the country.

* Rajasthan is home to premier education institutes such as IIM Udaipur, IIT Jodhpur, BITS-Pilani and LNMIT and MNIT Jaipur. 116 engineering colleges with intake capacity of over 44,000+ students, 1600+ ITIs with intake the capacity of more than 3,20,000 students and 144 polytechnic institutes with intake capacity of 32,000+ are cradles of technically skilled young people.

*Rajasthan is also India’s only state with two skilling based universities.