UP most preferred investment hub: CM

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the most preferred state for investment in India due to its secure environment, strong infrastructure, large market potential and young workforce, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday while addressing a roadshow in Tokyo during his visit to Japan.The CM interacted with industry representatives and govt officials to highlight the investment-conducive environment in UP.
The CM invited Japanese industrialists to visit Uttar Pradesh not just for business but also to experience its spiritual destinations.Referring to Japan as the ‘Land of the Rising Sun', the CM drew a parallel between it and the ‘Suryavansh' tradition of Lord Ram, claiming a cultural affinity between Japan and UP. "The state, with its population of 25 crore, offers one of the country's largest consumer markets. Over the past nine years, the state's economy and per capita income have nearly tripled. A state once referred to as BIMARU became the growth engine of India's economy," Yogi said.He highlighted that despite having only 11% of the country's agricultural land, UP was producing nearly 21% of India's grains, which provided significant investment opportunities in food processing, packaging and agri-logistics."In recent years, infrastructure developed rapidly in the state. UP has an extensive expressway network, the country's largest rail network and is the junction of eastern and western dedicated freight corridors. We are developing 27 industrial clusters along the expressways," the CM said, informing Japanese investors about the govt's plans to set up a Japan Industrial City in YEIDA region."A Japan Industrial City is being developed for Japanese investors near the Noida International Airport. We have identified around 500 acres of land. The objective is to enable Japanese industries to invest as a cluster at one location. They will be provided with superior connectivity, logistics and export facilities," the CM promised. He assured investors that their investments would be safe in UP as the state "provides scale, skill, stability and speed". The state accounts for 55% of India's mobile manufacturing and nearly 60% of electronic component production, and has opportunities in the fields of data centres, semiconductors, logistics, warehousing and renewable energy.The CM said a land bank of 75,000 acres was available for investors and a new industrial city was being developed over 56,000 acres in the Bundelkhand region near Jhansi.Yogi said that new units were exempt from several NOCs for the first 1,000 days to facilitate ease of establishment. "The state offers more than 34 sectoral policies and single-window systems such as Nivesh Mitra and Nivesh Sarathi to simplify the investment process," he said. "Last year, the state received 156 crore tourists, highlighting opportunities for investment in hotels, restaurants, heritage and spiritual tourism. There are investment prospects in electric vehicle mobility, deep tech, fintech, MedTech and the service sector," he added.