Vibrant Gujarat Day 1: Industry leaders address inaugural session

The first day of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit saw industry leaders Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal alongside global leaders address the inaugural summit.

In his address, the Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Guest and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Chief Minister highlighted the state’s role in bolstering companies in emerging sectors like fintech, renewable energy, semiconductors with a focus on skill development. He also highlighted that 50 per cent of the MoUs signed in the summit were green MoUs. 

The Summit was also addressed by the UAE President, Executive chairman of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal, Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani, billionaire industrialist and Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani among others.

Lakshmi Mittal

During his address, Arcelor Mittal announced signing a pact with Gujarat government for the second phase of the Hazira plant at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. Lakshmi Mittal, Executive Chairman of the group also highlighted the role of steel in the self-reliance of any country, saying it plays a “big part” in sectors from defence and railways to global technology and high end products to SMEs to startups.

The next two decades are crucial for the nation, he added.

Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani, in his address emphasised on Reliance Group's foray into Green Energy and green growth with a target to meet half of the state's energy's needs. He spoke on the group's role as a leading exporter of green products as well as the Jamnagar project for renewable energy named after his father, Dhirubhai Ambani. 

 He also spoke on Reliance Jio, AI's role and  retail business for improving quality of life. Concluding his speech, he reminded on his saying that under then Chief Minister Narendra Modi's government, Gujarat became India's growth engine and with Prime Minister being a nationalist and internationalist, it was time to make India the world's growth engine.

Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani outlined the Adani Group's ambition to invest Rs 2 lakh crores over the next five years in the state of Gujarat, creating one lakh direct and indirect jobs.

He also praised the government's role in meticulous governance coupled with flawless execution, highlighting that the global south's role in G20 was a defining moment in modern history.

The best is yet to come, he added, saying that India is poised for a global future, becoming a fully-developed nation by 2047. 

Regarding the group's investments in the state, he said the Adani Group has already invested Rs 50,000 crore in the state across sectors from its investment target of Rs 55,000 crore by 2025. 

The investment has created 25,000 direct and indirect jobs, he added. He also spoke on the Khavda district park, outlining the map for a green supply chain for Atmanirbhar Bharat. 

N Chandrasekaran

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, hailed Gujarat as the "Gateway to the Future" and revealed the Tata Group's significant investments and expansion plans in the state. He underlined Gujarat's strategic importance for Tata Group, not only for current business growth but also as a key destination for future advanced tech industries in India. 

International Leaders

In the last years under the constant support of PM Modi, India's automobile market has grown steadily, becoming the largest market in South East Asia in the last few years, President at Suzuki Motor Corp Toshihiro Suzuki said in the summit.

Indian-origin President and CEO of Micron, Sanjay Mehrotra expressed gratitude to the central and state government for making the investment for their semiconductor project possible. The American chipmaker became the first company to invest in a made-in-India semiconductor plant in last year's Semicon Summit in Gandhinagar.

We are proud to partner with Tata Projects, he said, adding that the first phase of the project will be operational by early 2025.

The project will generate 5,000 new direct jobs for the company and additional 15,000 community jobs in the state, he added.