MOHAN'S MAKE-IN-MP PITCH

It was former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan who first took to the idea of transforming Madhya Pradesh from an agri-based economy to a manufacturing-based one. Now 15 months into the job, his successor Mohan Yadav has the challenging job of taking the project forward. As part of this, on February 24 and 25, the state is hosting the 8th edition of the biennial Global Investor Summit (GIS) in Bhopal, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the event.

- By Rahul Noronha

It was former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan who first took to the idea of transforming Madhya Pradesh from an agri-based economy to a manufacturing-based one. Now 15 months into the job, his successor Mohan Yadav has the challenging job of taking the project forward. As part of this, on February 24 and 25, the state is hosting the 8th edition of the biennial Global Investor Summit (GIS) in Bhopal, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the event.

The build-up for the summit started over a year back, in March 2024, when the MP government organised seven regional investor summits, including in Ujjain, Jabalpur and Gwalior. Government sources claim that the summits have brought in Rs 4 lakh crore in investment proposals, with the Ujjain event alone getting a Rs 75,000 crore proposal from the Adani Group. But the sweetener for new businesses will be the Industrial Promotion Policy 2025, which was ratified by the MP cabinet on February 11. This has provisions such as a hike in the Basic Investment Promotion Assistance (BIPA), the financial help extended to industrial units established in the state, with extra support to those that set up units in the 40 designated backward blocks of the state or exports 25-75 per cent of their produce. The policy has three major thrusts:

It has identified dairy, food processing, garments, toys, furniture, and gems and jewellery as employmentrich sectors where investment would be eligible for further benefits. BIPA payable to units with investment from Rs 50 crore Eligible Fix Capital Investment (EFCI) upwards has been rationalised (10-40 per cent) with the upper limit increased to Rs 200 crore.