(Image source from: Make in India week a success - attracts more than 15.2 lakh crore worth investments})

The Make in India Week business expo has generated investment commitments worth Rs 15.2 lakh crore for the country, the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) said at the event's closing ceremony. 30% of these are foreign investment commitments.

"We expect the conversion rate to be over 80% in the next three years. These are investment commitments, which means pre-clearance work has been done," said DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant.

Maharashtra generated more than half the total commitment, inking MoUs worth nearly Rs 8 lakh crore, which are expected to generate 30 lakh jobs. The Konkan division, which includes the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, cornered the largest share of MoUs, worth over Rs 3.25 lakh crore. Vidarbha and Marathwada has generated MoUs worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Western Maharashtra and Khandesh totalled Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 25,000 crore.

The expo has generated 8.9 lakh visitors from across 102 countries, the DIPP said. It played host to 20 foreign dignitaries, including two prime ministers. Over 9,000 Indian companies and over 2,000 foreign companies participated.

"We expect a high rate of conversion because these MoUs have already been whetted," chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said. He said that, "We have signed these MoU during the week, though we had started talking to these parties around two months ago." Fadnavis said the event had generated investment commitments across sectors in Maharashtra. "This includes agro-processing, real estate, textile, auto, retail and skill development."

"We recommend the creation of a pool of "good banks" to promote lending, ensure good land pooling with governments, and spread taxation across industry (including non-covered sectors) to bring down the burden of taxation without affecting government revenue," said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

“The chief minister met 12 to 14 companies across sectors, and three ambassadors,” said a senior Odisha government official. He said that Odisha has attracted investments by Larsen & Toubro, NALCO, ITC, GMR and Vedanta, among others.

“The total worth of all MoUs is less than Rs 2,000 crore. Our aim was not to sign MoUs here. We were here mainly to reach out to people and open doors for more investments,” a senior official with the Gujarat government’s Industrial Extension Bureau said, adding that Patel met representatives of several companies such as Welspun, Suzlon, and Asian Paints on the sidelines of the Make in India Week.

“I had meetings with 17-18 representatives from across sectors. We are in talks for investments worth Rs 20,000 crore,” Khattar said.

The states which had organised investment seminars include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, TamilNadu, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Karnataka.

By Premji