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POLITICS OF POLICY 07 Feb 2013

Not So VibrantGujarats investment figures are greatly exaggerated. Only a small percentage of

proposals have been converted into projects on ground

Pranjal SharmaTEXT SIZE : A |A |A

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Chief Ministers across the country have been on the defensive of late.

Most of the states are compared with Gujarat and few have the ability

to counter the claims made by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee snapped at journalists

who asked her why her state was not as efficient as Gujarat. Similarly other

chief ministers are a loss when they are questioned about Gujarat.

Unfortunately, few have taken the trouble of questioning or probing the claims

made by Narendra Modi. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)

recently examined the investment s tatistics flaunted by the Gujarat.

The Vibrant Gujarat investment summit held by the chief minister has been

projected to have earned billions of dollars of fresh investment into India.

But a closer look at the figures reveals a different story. Only a small

percentage of projects announced in Vibrant Gujarat (VG) summits in 2009

and 2011 have actually moved on the ground. The details of many grand

projects are miss ing.

While there is lack of information about the projects at one level, at another

there is an aggressive PR machinery that is relentless ly promoting investment

figures that remain ques tionable.

CMIE says that investment proposal figures show a spike in the quarter

following the VG Summit. But the problem is that many of these proposals do not convert into commitments.

The wooing and the flirting is high profile, but walks to the altar are largely mis sing . In VG held in January 2009,

government claims that 3,574 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed for investments worth Rs 12 trillion.

But CMIE could capture information and details of only 220 projects worth Rs 3,947 billion (Rs 3,94,700 crore). The

number of projects capturedwere drastically low when compared with the official numbers displayed on the event's

website because of poor disclosure of basic information about the projects proposed. In most cases the website does

not provide the details o f a valid com pany name, location, product, and capacity, says the CMIE report.

Of these 220 projects, there was no progress in 36 projects worth Rs 1,649 billion (Rs 1,64,900 crore). Moreover, there

were 33 projects worth Rs 465 billion (Rs 46,500 crore) had stalled. There are 31 projects worth Rs 1,076 billion (Rs

1,07,600 crore) where there is no information on the progress of the project.

Only 63 projects worth Rs 217 billion (Rs 21,700 crore) have been completed and 54 projects worth Rs 540 billion (Rs

54,000 crore) are under implementation.

The same is the story for VG 2011. The grand claim was of 8,380 MoUs worth Rs 20 trillion being signed. But research

by CMIE did not get any details of these MoUs and projects. Like in the earlier fair, details of either company name, or

location or product etc were not clearly available for us to iden tify individual projects in thes e, says CMIE.

Out of 8,380 claimed, only 175 projects that entail investments worth Rs 1,883 billion (Rs 1,88,300 crore) could be

identified. Of these , 87 projects worth Rs 1,514 billion (Rs 1,51,400 crore) are still in the proposed stage. Implicitly a

large number of these identified projects have not made much progress. Further 19 projects worth Rs 52 billion (Rs

5,200 crore) have been stalled, and implementation of 2 projects worth Rs 1.5 billion (Rs 150 crore) has also been

stalled. There are 11 projects worth Rs 119 billion (Rs 11,900 crore) where information on progress of work is not

available, says the CMIE report.

According to information available, only 43 projects worth Rs 181 bi llion (Rs 18,100 crore) are under im plementation

and 13 projects worth Rs 15 billion (Rs 1,500 crore) have been completed.

About half a per cent of the MoUs signed in 2011 a re even being implemented. The conversion figure for 2009 is about

3.2 per cent according to the data of the CMIE paper.

This figure is surprising only because of the great hype around Gujarats claim of a flood of investment. Perhaps there

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8/22/2019 Not So Vibrant

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are var o us m ga ng reas ons w y e o er pro ec s no a e o .

These figures place Gujarat at the same level as other states. It is not head and shoulders above others. While Gujarat

may be pushing projects faster than some laggard states, but it is not racing ahead at the speed it claims .

There are many states that have recorded a higher economic growth rate than Gujarat. Between 2006-7 and 2010-11,

Gujarat had a growth of 9.3 per cent. Good rate but still ranked sixth. Even humble Orissa was at 9.4 per cent. Bihar

topped with 10.9 per cent while Chhattisgarh (10 per cent), Haryana (9.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (9.6 per cent)

followed.

So here are some suggestions and thoughts for Chief Ministers who are worried about the Gujarat juggernaut.

The difference between Gujarat and other states is 80 per cent hype and 20 per cent substance.

With some improvement in speed of decision making, many states can achieve better investment figures than Gujarat.

Be aggressive in chasing investment, but be equally aggressive in ensuring that all clearances are in place.Dont rest until projects get moving on the ground.

Launch a high profile publicity campaign to boost profile. A few steps like these will ensure that your state

outshines the 'mysterious mi racle' of Gujarat.

Tags: exclusive to web | gujarat| narendra modi|pranjal sharma |politics of policy| cmie | columnist|

vibrant gujarat| centre for monitoring indian economy|

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11 comments

Nirav Shah Government Dental College and Hospital, Ahmedabad

Well another brave attempt to ridicule the Gujarat story.. But there is a big

difference between bravery and buffoonery..First of all considering

everything written in the article is true, Only 63 projects worth Rs 217 billion

(Rs 21,700 crore) have been completed and 54 projects worth Rs 540 billion

(Rs 54,000 crore ) are under implementation for 2009.This adds up to ONLY

81,700 crore. For 2011, 87 projects worth Rs 1,514 billion (Rs 1,51,400

crore) are still in the proposed stage. Again ONLY 1,51,400 crore. These

amounts have been invested ONLY due to the initiative and hard work of

Gujarat Govt.

Secondly the author uses selective data to push his bias.Why no data given

for Vibrant 2003,2005,2007? It is a fact that all industrial projects have to go

through a gestation period..Just because a child is healthy at birth does not

mean he will have all the teeth in his mouth at birth..It requires time to

erupt..Same for industries!

I have tried to throw light on the facts and figures at Vibrant Gujarat here

http://deshgujarat.com/2013/01/09/vibrant-gujarat-flying-high/.

Now coming to growth rates, the author conveniently excludes 2001-2006

data where Bihar was 2.9%, Orissa 7.8%, Chattisgarh 7.7%, Maharashtra

8.2%, Haryana 8.4% where as Gujarat was 11%. Taking a look at

cumulative figures f or 2001-2011, Gujarat has numero uno position.

Shun the jaundiced vision please!

Reply Like 2 hours ago2

Sameer Kavad CONTRACT BASIS at University Lecturer 135 subscribers

This is the case with Kerala also, here in the banner of EMERGING KERALA

crores of public money spend for this global summit and at the end CM

announced thousands of projects, the next day it reveals that most of the

claims made by CM & Industrial minister were fake. Those global companies

including WOLSWAGON even did not know the projects these trickypoliticians declared with much hype.

Reply Like 4 hours ago1

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