If the investments pledged for the 2022 Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS), which was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, are taken into account, Gujarat has received a pledged investment of 42.59 lakh crore.
Ahead of the VGGS 2024 scheduled to be held on January 10-12, official figures of the state industries and mines department peg that as many as 40,694 projects, entailing an investment of Rs 23,72,031.74 crore have been pledged in Gujarat since February 2022. Significantly, the investments have been pledged in 20 different sectors. The MoUs are expected to generate 34.62 lakh employment opportunities in the state.
“Over the past two years, over 40,000 new projects have been pledged in the state and if the Covid-19 period is also taken into account, close to one lakh new projects have been pledged in the state. All these investments have been signed in diverse sectors, with MSME projects accounting for a majority,” top sources in the government said.
According to official figures, MoUs for 57,236 projects were signed between February 1, 2019 and January 1, 2022, entailing an investment of Rs 18,87,423.30 crore. Between 2019 and 2021, 42.14 lakh employment opportunities were expected to be generated.
MoUs for 32,884 MSME projects signed in 2 years
The MoUs filed in the three years from 2019 and 2021 are exclusive of those filed in the years 2022 and 2023 (including the MoUs filed on Wednesday, January 3). The government had not publicized details of the MoUs filed during the Covid-19 pandemic period earlier,” sources informed.
In terms of value of investments pledged in the state between February 1, 2022 and January 3, 2024, the power, oil and gas sector saw highest Rs 8.41 lakh crore pledged in this sector. This was followed by chemicals, petrochemicals and GIDC large projects (Rs 2.74 lakh crore), engineering, auto and other industries (Rs 2.04 lakh crore), information technology and biotechnology (Rs 1.96 lakh crore) and urban development (Rs 1.90 lakh crore).
In what is a reflection of a robust MSME sector in the state, MoUs for 32,884 MSME projects, entailing an investment of Rs 1.19 lakh crore were signed with the state government between February 1, 2022 and January 3, 2024. These MoUs pledged new 4.98 lakh employment opportunities. If the MoUs in the MSME sector from 2019 till date are taken in to account, the number of MoUs signed for MSME projects is 76,965 and investments worth Rs 19.52 lakh crore have been pledged for setting up micro, small and medium enterprises in the state.
