At the summit, many industrialists interacted with the media. During their interaction, most of them showered praises on Chauhan for his pragmatic approach. Not only Indian investors, but even the representative of Canadian High Commission came out with the assurance that industrialists from his country will make substantial investment in the state. Canadian Acting Consul-General and Trade Commissioner (Western India) Nicolas Lepage was leading a delegation of half-a-dozen Canadian companies. He said many Canadian countries had already invested in Gujarat, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai and are now looking for new opportunities and a conducive atmosphere for investment. 'In MP, we are looking at infrastructure, health care and food processing', he said.

Abhay Firodia, chairman, Force Motors, when asked what drew 'Force' to Madhya Pradesh, said, 'My view is that good governance is one of the three key elements on which depend the prosperity of a region. The second element is focus on infrastructure, which is very important for urban and rural connectivity. In the last seven years period (Chauhan's regime), a lot has been done in MP. Electricity is available and there is planned urban development. The third element is constructive social and political environment that helps trade to grow. MP is evolving in this direction'.

Saidbed Saidov, Ambassador, Republic of Tajikistan was also in Indore for the summit. He was asked, 'How do you plan to bring investors to MP?' Replying, he stated, 'We have good economic relations with Indian states like Punjab, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. MP is a big state. We plan to organise a joint meeting of investors from MP and Tajakistan. We may invite MP investors to Tajikistan'.

Anil Ambani said he saw in Shivraj Singh Chauhan a great visionary and compared him with his late father Dhirubhai Ambani, who 'always had a great vision'. Raju Vaishnav, Vice President of NASSCOM said that, 'My impression is very clear that something is happening for good in MP. There is a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm'. In this context, he welcomed the initiative for organising the global investors meet.

Addressing the inaugural session of the meet on October 28, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan appealed to the industrialists to invest in MP. He also announced a slew of measures for the small and medium enterprises sector including promise of land and loan guarantee.

'We will earmark land for SME sector and introduce a loan guarantee scheme for young entrepreneurs. Urging entrepreneurs to establish industries in rural areas, he promised to provide them 24-hour power supply from 2013 onward. Chauhan also announced that the government would waive off the taxes imposed on local bodies on goods meant for export.

Later, talking to media persons he said that looking to the previous experience, this time, the government had signed MoUs with only 'serious' investors. He said earlier, in all, 443 MoUs were signed but out them 111 did not fructify. He recalled that nearly 144 MoUs have been implemented, which had brought investment to the tune of Rs. 3 lakh crore. In all these cases, either the production had started or the construction work of the factory was nearing completion.

It was obvious at the meet that the investors were the most interested in the food sector. Out of 111 MoUs signed on the first day, 20 were for food processing industrial units. The proposed projects included setting up of rice mills, edible oil units and organic food products units. While the first day of the summit was devoted to small and medium sector, the second day was marked by the signing of a string of MoUs with big investors both from India and abroad. MoUs were signed with companies for projects in IT, infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture, urban development, healthcare, automobile engineering and tourism. Those who spoke at the summit included Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej industries, B. Muthuraman, chairman, Tata International, Arun Swahney, CEO and MD, Ranbaxy Labs, besides Abhay Firodia and Anil Ambani.

After the summit, the CM convened a meeting of top officials dealing with various aspects of industrialisation and asked them to sort out the problems faced by those who have signed the MoUs in the shortest-possible time. He made it clear that the investors should not be made to suffer. He directed that notifications pertaining to all the new policies should be issued with 15 days. A detailed Action plan should chalked for providing water, electricity and other facilities at places where land has been earmarked for industries. All necessary sanctions will be given to the investors within a month of signing of the MoUs. (IPA Service)