LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has signed agreements involving proposed investments of about Rs 3 lakh crore at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, state Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said on Tuesday. Briefing reporters on the state’s participation at the WEF annual meeting held from January 19 to 22, Khanna said, “The state delegation held 119 meetings with global investors, including interactions with 55- 56 multinational companies, leading to MoUs worth Rs 3 lakh crore in multiple sectors.” “This is a major achievement for Uttar Pradesh and reflects the confidence global investors have in the state,” he said. Khanna said the largest MoU (memoranda of understanding) was signed with the Netherlands-based AM Green for an artificial intelligence-based one-gigawatt data transfer project, with an estimated investment of around USD 25 billion. “This is the biggest MoU signed by Uttar Pradesh at Davos,” he added. The minister said that investment agreements were signed in sectors such as data centres, renewable energy and green hydrogen, besides defence, tourism, food processing, logistics and warehousing, electric vehicles, pharmaceuticals and healthcare manufacturing. “Uttar Pradesh’s image at Davos was extremely positive. There was a continuous crowd at our pavilion, showing strong interest in investing in the state,” Khanna said. He attributed the positive response to Uttar Pradesh to improved air, road and rail connectivity and better infrastructure, as well as “clean, personal image” of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The finance minister said that companies from countries including the US, the UK, Sweden, Australia and Singapore participated in the discussions. “Investors choose destinations based on facilities and competitiveness, and Uttar Pradesh has emerged strongly on that count,” he said. Khanna said the Uttar Pradesh delegation that led the state at Davos included finance secretary Deepak Kumar, chief minister’s Secretary Amit Singh, Invest UP CEO Vijay Kiran Anand and NEDA Director Indrajeet Singh. He added that more investment proposals are expected to materialise “sooner or later”. Khanna said this was the third time the state participated in the WEF in Davos, Switzerland.
