[Reader-list] MoUs worth $450 bn signed in Vibrant Gujarat 2011 Summit: Modi

[Bipin Trivedi]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/mous-worth-450-b
n-signed-in-vibrant-gujarat-2011-summit-modi/articleshow/7277317.cms 

GANDHINAGAR: A staggering 7,936 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for Rs
20,83,000 crore (about $462 billion) worth of projects have been signed in
the two-day Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit, Chief Minister Narendra
Modi announced at the valedictory function Thursday evening. 

The whopping investment would also result in about 5.2 million additional
jobs, Modi added. 

The previous edition of the summit in 2009 had resulted in about 4,000 MoUs
being signed for investments worth Rs 12,00,000 crore (about $243 billion). 

The investments on account of this year's Vibrant Gujarat Summit are higher
than India's foreign exchange reserves estimated at around $300 billion,
though how many of these MoUs turn into actual projects is a matter of
conjecture. 

With the who's who of India's corporate world in attendance here, the chief
minister told the summit that the 21st century belonged not just to India,
but also the larger Asia and Africa. 

In the previous edition of the Vibrant Gujarat conclave, investment
commitments made amounted to $243 billion by way of 8,663 memoranda of
understanding, with an employment generation potential of 2.62 million,
officials said. 

Taken together with the pre-events and the major exhibition, officials said
the Vibrant Gujarat Summit has attracted some 20,000 participants from 19
Indian states and 60 countries. Japan and Canada are the partner countries. 

One of India's most developed states, Gujarat is spread over 196,000 sq km
among 26 districts, has a population of 50.7 million people and a literacy
rate of 79.8 percent.