Madhya Pradesh draws huge investment proposals from India Inc

Reliance Industries, ITC and Godrej group have announced a major investment and expansion plans in Madhya Pradesh.

Indore:Corporate biggies like Reliance Industries, ITC and Godrej group among others on Friday announced a major investment and expansion plans in Madhya Pradesh as the Congress-ruled state seeks to grow faster.

Reliance Industries, chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday announced setting up of national distribution centres in Madhya Pradesh with over 10 million square feet space across 45 locations.

The company, which has over 600 stores and 100 petroleum retail outlets in the state, is planning to more than double the same over the next few years, Ambani said at 'Magnificent MP', investment summit organised by the Madhya Pradesh government.

"Madhya Pradesh is a natural choice for logistics hub because of its strategic location. Reliance will be setting up state-of-the-art national distribution centres in MP with over 10 million sq ft of space across 45 locations in the state," Ambani announced through video conferencing.

Ambani, however, did not share the investment details of this project.

Ambani expressed his inability to attend the summit because of the board meeting of the company on Friday.

He said Reliance will also explore investment opportunities in the area of renewable energy in the state to promote sustainable development and green economy.

Reliance is among the largest investor in the state with investments of over Rs 20,000 crore in the last few years, he said.

"Reliance has developed coal bed methane blocks in the state and built the first and the only gas pipeline that connects it with the national gas grid. This opens for multiple future investment opportunities," Ambani said.

RIL is the topmost employer in the state after Madhya Pradesh government.

Ambani said that Reliance Jio Infocomm has become the greatest catalyst for transforming MP into a digital society.

"Today, MP alone consumes more data than South Korea, the UK, France, Germany or Canada. I would like to thank all the Jio users in the state for this record consumption," he added.

He also said all the services of Jio will soon be available in Hindi.

Consumer goods major ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri said that the company is planning to set up a food processing facility in Madhya Pradesh at an investment of Rs 700 crore.

The company also said the land for the proposed food processing unit is already with the company and it will soon commence operations.

"We are now intending to make a large investment in a modern food processing facility in MP at an investment of Rs 700 crore," Puri told the Magnificent Madhya Pradesh--the maiden investor summit being organized by the Kamal Nath-led state government here.

Adi Godrej said Godrej group, which has been operating in the state for several years, committed to continue to be a steadfast investor in the state.

Sun Pharmas Dilip Shanghvi, said over last few years the company has invested close to Rs 500 crore in the state and is looking at expanding its facilities at Dewas and Malanpur.

India Cements vice-chairman and managing director N Srinivasan also said his company intends to double the capacity of its plant in the state.