Friends in need: Adani with Modi.

Adani-Ambani tango for Modi’s Gujarat: Adani to invest Rs 49,000 cr in 5 yrs

Ambani promises to convert Gujarat into Jio state; fund Deen Dayal univ

Agency Report | Gandhinagar | 10 January, 2017 | 10:40 PM

The Adani Group has planned investment of Rs 49,000 crore in Gujarat, distributed between the expansion of port activities and renewable energy over the next five years.

“We will invest Rs 16,700 crore to expand our ports at all our Gujarat locations — Mundra, Hazira, Dahej and Tuna,” Group Chairman Gautam Adani said at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.

“In the year 2021, our new investments in solar as well as wind development and manufacturing will exceed Rs 23,000 crore.”

The group commissioned 1,648 MW plants in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a global leader in renewable energy, said Adani.

“We will be investing Rs 2,000 crore in setting up a series of desalination plants across the state and also 10 million grassroots cement plants at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.”

“In the next five years, we will be investing Rs 49,000 crore in Gujarat, and we will create 25,000 direct and indirect job opportunities for local people,” he added.

Adani also said that he was going to make significant investments in agri footprint, cement and planning to forays into water.

Reliance Industry Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said that Jio plans to connect merchants and shops to create “commerce and payment network to support the cashless economy plan.

“In the coming year, Jio will connect lakhs of merchants and shops to create a commerce and payment network to support the Prime Minister’s cashless digital vision,” said Ambani.

He also added that Gujarat was the first state to cross the mark of 50 lakh Jio subscribers.

“In 2014-15, only 35 percent of Gujarat’s population had access to 3G network. But today, over 90 percent of the population is covered by Jio 4G LTE network and by Diwali, the entire state will be covered,” Ambani said.

Ambani said that Jio would connect all schools and colleges in Gujarat in order to provide access to information to the future generation students in the coming year.

“Jio will also connect all hospital and medical facilities to create the next generation of health infrastructure in our state,” he said.

He also said that the Reliance Foundation was committed to give Rs 150 crore for the Pandit Deen Dayal University and to make it the top institute in India. (IANS)