Modi sees Vadodra as India’s ‘speed capital’
23 Nov 2009
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that Vadodra and the industrial belt around it could become the ''speed capital'' of India, with a number of railway-related and automobile companies setting shop in the region.
Laying the foundation stone for the rail wagon factory of Jindal Rail Infrastructure Ltd at Karjan, about 35 km from Vadodara, on Sunday, Modi also invited manufacturers of defence equipment to set up plants in the state.
The chief minister said, ''In recent decades Vadodara lagged in terms of attracting industrial investment compared to Ahmedabad, Surat or Jamnagar. However, of late, companies like General Motors, Bombardier and Apollo Tyres have invested in the vicinity of Vadodara. Now, with Jindal Rail Infrastructure Ltd setting up a railway wagon plant at Karjan, Vadodara is poised to become the speed capital of India. The state plans to attract more high value investment in the area.''
Chief minister Modi added, ''The government has made serious attempts for human resource development in the state. Till 2001, Gujarat had only 13,000 seats in engineering (colleges), which has been increased to 86,000 in 2009. We want the expertise of the state in manufacturing and engineering sector to be utilised for the defence requirements of the country.''
Modi further said, ''With the current century to witness a stiff competition between Asian countries like China and India, Gujarat will play an important role in enhancing the competitive edge of India in the field of engineering and manufacturing against China.''
JRIL is a fully-owned subsidiary of Jindal ITF, the infrastructure arm of Jindal Saw Ltd, which in turn is a subsidiary of the $12 billion (Rs56,000 crore) O P Jindal group. It will commence operations from October 2010, and roll out the first batch of stainless steel wagons in February 2011. The memorandum of understanding for the project was inked between the state government and JRIL during the Vibrant Gujarat global investor summit earlier this year.