Nearly Rs 5 lakh crore investments announced at two-day Assam business summit

Guwahati, Feb 26 (PTI) Assam's big-ticket investment and infrastructure summit concluded on Wednesday, with investment proposals worth Rs 4.91 lakh crore announced during the two-day event, nearly five times that of the previous edition in 2018.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the summit on Tuesday, urging industrialists to invest in Assam, which he described as a land of limitless opportunities, with the state's economy doubling to Rs six lakh crore during the BJP rule.

“The Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit 2025 is a defining moment in the history of Assam. The second edition drew to a successful close with the valedictory address by Union Minister Piyush Goyal,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The investment commitments made during the summit include 270 MoUs worth over Rs 2.75 lakh crore in sectors like power, mines and minerals, information technology, environment and forest, education, finance, health, culture, tourism, animal husbandry, cooperation, skill development, urban development, agriculture, science and technology and water resources.

Major conglomerates like Reliance, Adani, Vedanta, the Tata Group and Jindal among others committed a total of Rs 1.25-lakh crore investment, while the government sector committed Rs 78,000 crore in infrastructure development.

At the district level, 1,921 agreements worth Rs 5,851 crore were inked, officials said.

The summit featured 67 heads of missions, 76 particpating countries, 12 bilateral agencies and nine partner nations, they said.

"More than 200 delegates attended from abroad and over 2,100 came from different parts of the country. In total, 14,500 people attended the two-day summit, which hosted 121 speakers and six Union ministers," Chief Secretary Ravi Kota said.

Goyal, in his valedictory address, said it was the ‘3 Ts’ – trade, technology, tourism, the ‘3 Is’ – industry, infrastructure and investment, and the ‘7 Ds’ – democracy, demography, dependability, digitalisation and decisiveness of the leadership that will take Assam ahead in the path of development.

Unprecedented progress is taking place in Assam, which is the “crown of the Ashtalakshmi” states of northeast India, and it will further surge ahead due to the talent, hardwork and hospitality of the people of the state, he said.

The Assam government has rejected various investment proposals during the summit, but focused on practical and possible projects that could be implemented, which is “indeed a very appreciable step”, Goyal said.

Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, in a virtual address, said that work on projects worth Rs 80,000 crore will soon start in Assam, including a tunnel under the Brahmaputra river, elevated corridor at Kaziranga National Park and the Guwahati ring road.

Gadkari said till 2029, projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore under his ministry will be completed in the state, while work on projects worth Rs 60,000 crore is already underway in Assam.

Union Minister for Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal also announced that Rs 4,800 crore will be spent for development of waterways and related infrastructure in Assam in the next five years, including building ship repair facilities, construction of alternate roads for ports, development of terminals and a centre of excellence in maritime education, which will provide 5,000 skilled youths to the shipping industry annually.

Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said India is looking at increasing its target to blend ethanol with petrol to more than 20 per cent, and has formed a committee to look into it, with 19.6 per cent blending already achieved.

Puri said all the fossil fuel production companies will achieve net-zero by 2045, even though India has developmental challenges. PTI DG SSG TR DG RBT

Source: PTI