From Green Hydrogen To EVs And Chips, Vibrant Gujarat Summit Sees Big Pledges From Investors

Several foreign companies like Suzuki, American chipmaker Micron Technology, South Korean chip component maker Simmtech and AI computing firm Nvidia, too, pledged mega investments in the coastal state. The proposals covered several areas like green hydrogen, battery storage, steel sector and automobile etc.

On Thursday, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said Simmtech will set up a unit to support the semiconductor ecosystem in Sanand near Ahmedabad.Simmtech has been allotted 30 acres of land for the project and it would attract an investment of Rs 1,250 crore.

Simmtech is expected to start working on the project in three months.

“Simmtech has signed an MoU with the Gujarat government to set up a plant near the Micron plant at Sanand. The company is the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor substrates,” Vaishnaw told reporters at the Summit.

He also said that the Tata Group’s semiconductor fab unit proposed in Dholera, about 100 km from Sanand, will be bigger in scale than the Micron plant.

Addressing the summit Wednesday, Jeffrey Chun, CEO of Simmtech, expressed excitement for their India project as a co-location investment following their major customer Micron’s project in Gujarat. He informed that they are preparing another round of co-location investment in India.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said his company has invested over US$ 150 billion across India in creating world-class assets in the past 10 years. Of this, more than one third has been invested in Gujarat. He said Reliance will continue to play a leading role in Gujarat’s growth story with significant investments in the next 10 years.

Ambani, who hails from Gujarat, underlined his five pledges that were already in progress to the state. Reliance’s plans included Dhirubhai Ambani Energy Giga Complex, spread over 5,000 acres, in Jamnagar; roll out of 5G in more areas; Reliance Retail’s expansion in the state; making Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and circular economy; and joining forces with other partners to improve sporting, education and skills infrastructure in Gujarat to ready it to be able to bid for 2036 Olympics.

Gautam Adani, a fellow Gujarati and Chairman of Adani Group, announced an investment of Rs 55,000 crore by 2025 besides plans to invest over Rs 2 lakh crore over the next 5 years in the state, thereby creating over 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs.

Adani also talked about creating a green supply chain and the largest integrated renewable energy ecosystem including solar panels, wind turbines, hydro electrolysers, green ammonia, PVC and expanding copper and cement projects.

ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal underlined the importance of steel in making a nation self-dependent. He recalled the foundation stone laying of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Hazira Expansion Project in 2021 and asserted the first phase of the project will be completed on time in 2026. He also touched upon investing in green sectors such as renewable energy and green hydrogen.

Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki spoke about the Japanese carmaker’s plans to roll out its first EVs produced in India and also export them to Europe and back home to Japan. He said the company also planned to contribute to reducing greenhouse emissions through ethanol, green hydrogen and the production of biogas from cow dung.

Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra thanked the Gujarat and central government for their support in helping the company establish an assembly and testing facility in the state as he mentioned the partnership with Tata Projects for the project.

N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, said the origin of the Tata Group was in Gujarat as the founder Jamshedji Tata was born in Navsari, situated between Surat and Mumbai on the banks of the Tapi river. Today, 21 Tata Group companies have a strong presence in the state, he said.

He also elaborated on the expansion plans of the group in areas of electric vehicles, battery production, C295 defence aircraft and semiconductor fab, and advanced manufacturing skill building.

Surrounded by these business leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarted the much-awaited 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. In his address, he said the summit has showcased new ideas and created new gateways for investments and returns.

“India is moving forward in the role of a ‘Vishwa Mitra’ in a fast-changing world. Today, India has given the world confidence in achieving common collective goals. The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability,” he said.

He said there are new possibilities for investors across India and the Gujarat summit is “a gateway” for this and the future.

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the chief guest at the inauguration of the summit and he made a rare speech. The prime minister has often referred to him as his “brother” – symbolic of a deepening India-UAE ties. Both the countries are part of the I2U2 grouping that also has Israel and the US as its members.

Prime Minister Modi highlighted India-UAE partnership in the renewable energy sector, innovative healthcare, and investments in India’s port infrastructure. He also mentioned that the UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund will soon start operations in GIFT City and aircraft and ship leasing activities by trans-world companies.

Later, at a press conference, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said four MoUs were signed after a bilateral meeting between the UAE President and Prime Minister Modi. These MoUs cover sectors like healthcare and renewable energy, besides food park development and logistics cooperation. Some of these investment proposals were first discussed under the I2U2.

Throwing light on the bilateral ties between India and the UAE, Chairman of global logistics management and services firm DP World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, pointed out that the desert nation had emerged as one of the biggest overseas investors in Gujarat with investment of more than US$ 2.4 billion since 2017.

He spoke of DP World’s plan to invest and develop state-of-the-art container terminals in Kandla, Gujarat, with a capacity of 2 million containers.

Noting the growing importance of generative AI, Shankar Trivedi, Sr VP, Nvidia, recalled how PM Modi had invited Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, to deliver a lecture to ministers and officials of the Indian government. “It was the first time that a global leader actually talked about AI,” he said.

Nikhil Kamat, founder and CEO of Zerodha, hailed the country’s start-up ecosystem that has developed in the past 10 years. He credited the prime minister for facilitating a stable ecosystem allowing startups to thrive.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Gujarat will be a key driver of growth for India, which will “surely” be the third-largest economy by 2027-28. She, however, said making India a US$ 30-trillion economy by 2047 is a "conservative" estimate.

"By 2047, as I said earlier, it is a conservative estimate that we will reach at least US$ 30 trillion in terms of our economy," she added.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and Timor Leste President José Ramos-Horta also addressed the summit. Others who attended the summit included ministers and diplomats from Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Armenia, Morocco, Nepal, Vietnam.