Top industry players announce a slew of investment plans

Guwahati: India’s top industrialists on Tuesday committed large investments in Assam, with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Adani Group and Vedanta Resources Limited promising ₹50,000 crore each to be invested across various sectors in the northeastern state.

Speaking at the “Advantage Assam 2.0” infrastructure and investment summit, RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said his company’s investment will aim at making Assam technology and artificial intelligence (AI) ready.

“Assam has the potential to develop so fast that South-East Asia and East Asia will begin to look westwards to Assam as the land of growth potentialities,” Ambani said. “Until now Assam is known as the tea-paradise, but in the coming years and decades I am sure the state will be known to the world also as a technological paradise.”

The business tycoon highlighted that in the 2018 investment summit, RIL had announced an investment of ₹5,000 crore. “Since then, the investments have crossed ₹12,000 crore. This amount will quadruple and we will invest ₹50,000 crore in the next five years,” he said, adding the money will be spent in five areas — technology and AI, green and nuclear energy, a mega food park, doubling the number of Reliance retail stores to 800, and setting up a seven-star hotel.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said his company will invest ₹50,000 crore in Assam in sectors including airports, aero cities, city gas distribution, transmission, cement and road projects. “We are eager to be part of the vision of progress for Assam,” Adani said.

Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said the company will invest around ₹25,000 crore in a large electronics manufacturing unit in Assam over the next few years. Stating that Assam holds “a very special place in the heart” of Tata group, he highlighted the company’s presence in various sectors, including the famous tea gardens, and noted that the group provides employment to 55,000 people in the state and operates 17 cancer care hospitals in partnership with the state government.

He emphasised that the ₹27,000-crore semiconductor assembly and testing unit in Jagiroad, being developed by Tata Electronics, will produce 48 million chips daily and generate around 30,000 jobs. “I foresee a future where the chips used in our cars, phones, TVs, and everyday equipment are manufactured here,” he added.

On the occasion, Vedanta Resources Limited chairman Anil Agarwal said the company has firmed up plans to “invest ₹50,000 crore in Assam and Tripura’s oil and gas sector over the next 3-4 years”.

“Assam has abundant natural resources and has the potential to become the world’s mega basin. We are poised to play a pivotal role in Assam’s sustainable growth and development,” he added.

Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW Group, recollected his childhood association with Assam, saying he used to visit the state with his mother who was born and raised in Tinsukia, a commercial town in the northeastern state’s tea-belt.

“The JSW Group is looking at investments in the cement sector by setting up plants and in the renewable and thermal energy sectors keeping in mind the state’s growth in coming days,” he said.