Dealmaking at UP Global Investor’s Summit 2023: Major Investments in Gautam Buddh Nagar District

Held in Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government recently hosted its state-level Global Investor’s Summit between February 10-12. The summit concluded with several deals signed between UP authorities, domestic conglomerates like Reliance and Godrej, and multinational firms (MNCs) like IKEA and Lulu Group.

UP sought to prime itself for a successful summit by holding investor meetings across 20 countries, including Thailand, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands, besides organizing roadshows in several Indian cities.

As more Indian states now compete directly for foreign investment, MNCs should pay attention to their respective industry policies, presence of preferential economic zones, and the conditions attached to tax breaks.

The north Indian state has several domestic competitors – Bengal Global Business Summit, Invest Karnataka, Magnetic Maharashtra, Invest Madhya Pradesh, Advantage Assam, Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet, Invest Telangana, and Make in Odisha.

Dealmaking around UP Global Investor’s Summit 2023

Ahead of the summit, around 1333 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were reportedly signed between various domestic and international firms for investments worth INR 7.85 trillion. Overall, the summit received investment proposals worth INR 32.92 trillion and potential to create 9.2 million jobs.

Investor MoUs were signed with agriculture, basic education, additional sources of energy, excise, food safety and drug administration, and transport departments besides industrial authorities. Investments were announced for the IT/ITeS, commercial development, infrastructure, group housing, dairy, energy, agriculture, education, medical education, civil aviation, and forestry sectors.

However, IT/ITeS was a big winner, accounting for the largest investments announced.

Gautam Buddh Nagar district bags most investments

The urban agglomeration that is Gautam Buddh Nagar has three industrial development authorities – Noida, Greater Noida, and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA).

Of them, YEIDA closed 92 MoUs worth INR 1.03 trillion, Noida Authority reached 362 MoUs worth INR 885 billion, and Greater Noida Authority 110 MoUs worth INR 740 billion, as per reporting in The Times of India.

At the end of the summit, the three authorities accounted for 27 percent share of the total investments committed. The Gautam Buddh Nagar district accounted for investments of more than INR 7 trillion.

Speaking to the media, YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh said that the district expects to host several companies from Japan, South Korea, Sweden, and Denmark in coming years and various industrial townships.

Besides the three Noida authorities, the cities of Agra and Lucknow emerged as preferred destinations for investors at the summit.

Overall, Western UP attracted 45 percent of total committed investment and eastern UP attracted 29 percent of the potential investment share.

Land bank availability, logistics infra, and upcoming mega projects

Among highly attractive regions in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district for industrial set up are the upcoming Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region (DNGIR), which is spread over 21,000 hectares, and the land bank-rich Yamuna Expressway area. 

UP has the largest railway network in India at more than 16,000 kilometers as well as a huge portion of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). While WDFC provides easy access to the JNPT port at Mumbai (on the western coast), 57 percent of the EDFC passes through UP and connects the state to Haldia Port at Kolkata (on the eastern coast). Both the corridors – EDFC and WDFC – intersect at Dadri (Gautam Buddh Nagar district).

Other prominent mega projects in the works are Film City, Medical Device Park, and the Noida (Jewar) International Airport. The state is also planning for the development of a Multi-Modal Logistics Hub (MMLH) and a Multi-Modal Transport Hub (MMTH).

Moreover, the UP government recently announced that YEIDA will oversee the development of Yamuna City, which will be spread across 3000 square kilometers, and will be 15-times bigger than Noida, eight-times bigger than Greater Noida, and four-times bigger than Gurugram (Haryana state) – all three are prominent satellite cities of Delhi. The new Yamuna City will include villages of Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura and Agra, as per reporting by DNA news.

Some prominent investments announced at the summit

The Swedish conglomerate IKEA will invest INR 43 billion in Noida and the UAE-based Lulu Group has signed a INR 25 billion-MoU to open a mall here. The Godrej Group is set to invest INR 24 billion to build two group housing societies in the area. M3M India has acquired 13 acres in Noida and the real estate company has committed to INR 75 billion in investments. As per media reports, over 18 companies seek to invest more than INR 10 billion in Noida.

The Adani Group has signed an MoU with DNGIR for investments worth INR 50 billion and is expected to set up a warehouse on a 200-acre land parcel. The Adani Group also seeks to invest INR 55 billion to develop an industrial and warehousing complex on 700 acres of plot near the Jewar airport, which is yet to be finalized.

Foreign investments announced by country at the UP Global Investor’s Summit 2023

Source: IANS reporting published in The Business Standard

Some leading corporate investments announced in UP

Source: IANS reporting published in The Business Standard

Reliance to roll-out 5G services among other businesses in the state

At the Global Investor’s Summit, the Reliance Group announced intentions to expand 5G services across UP, besides investing in retail and new energy businesses. The goal is for Reliance Jio’s 5G connectivity to reach every village and town in UP by December 2023, as per Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Ambani also intends his group to set up 10GW of renewable capacity and launch a bio-energy business venture, as per reporting by Mint.