Mulayam’s development wagon gets GM engine

The announcement couldn’t have been better timed, with the UPDC holding its sixth meeting on Monday, which the General Motors team would now also attend. Also present at the meeting would be Mulayam, UPDC Chairman Amar Singh, UPDC members Anil Ambani and Subrata Roy, apart from Godrej’s Adi Godrej, Ramdas Pai, M.S. Banga of Hindustan Lever Limited, M.V. Kamath of ICICI and Amitabh Bachchan.

Another surprise package, according to Industrial Development Commissioner Ravi Mathur, would be CEO of Infosys Nandan M. Nilekani.

At today’s meeting, General Motors executive director Alan Periton assured Mulayam that the company believed in long-term planning and it would invest in Uttar Pradesh from this perspective.

This is a major boost for Mulayam as since he took over as the Chief Minister last October, investment in the state has mostly come only in the fields of energy, health and housing. While the Reliance Group invested about Rs 15,000 crore in a gas-based power project near Dadri in Ghaziabad district, Sahara India is coming up with a Rs 450-crore hospital in Lucknow and has also invested in upmarket townships in the state.

The first meeting of the UPDC was held in Lucknow on October 19 and the second in the city on November 9. These were followed by two meetings in New Delhi, on November 27 and January 27. The last meeting was held in Mumbai on February 29 but the council’s plans to woo some Mumbai-based industrialists had been cut short by the Election Commission’s announcement of Lok Sabha elections the same day.

The IDC said investors had evinced keen interest in energy, food processing, urban water supply, information technology and infrastructure development. Investment proposals in these sectors would be discussed at the UPDC meeting, which may also deliberate on proposed tourism and food-processing policies.