Assam Health Bonanza: Indo UK Institute of Health to invest Rs 2700 crore, Medanta Rs 500 crore

Guwahati: The inaugural day of the first-ever Global Investors' Summit in Assam saw the signing of as many as 176 initial pacts in a range of sectors with investment commitments worth Rs 65,186 crore, an official said.

Leading from the front, public sector oil behemoth ONGC committed Rs 13,000 crore investment in the state, according to the spokesperson of 'Advantage Assam - Global Investors' Summit 2018'.

Another oil PSU Oil India Ltd pledged an investment of Rs 10,000 crore, the official said.

Oil India Chairman and MD Utpal Bora told PTI the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Assam Petrochemicals Ltd and the Assam government.

"We are also signing a MoU to form a joint venture company with IOC, ONGC, NRL and GAIL. This is to connect all the North Eastern state capital with gas pipelines from Guwahati," he added.

Two more oil firms Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) also evinced interest to invest Rs 3,432 crore and Rs 3,410 crore, respectively, the spokesperson said.

Among private players, RIL Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 2,500 crore in Assam in various sectors, including retail, petroleum, telecom, tourism and sports, creating jobs for at least 80,000 people over the next three years. Ambani's announcement came during the inaugural function of the two-day investors' summit.

With Tata Trusts joining hands with the Assam government to roll out an elaborate cancer care programme in 17 centres across 15 districts of the state from next year, the project will see an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Indo-UK Institute of Health will be investing Rs 2,700 crore, while Century Ply has shared plans of investing Rs 2,100 crore, the summit spokesperson informed.

"Spicejet outlined plans of Rs 1,250 crore worth of investment for Assam through seaplanes boosting the tourism sector besides connecting Lakhimpur and Jorhat under the Udaan Scheme.

Infinity Group will be investing Rs 1,000 crore in an IT Park and real estate project in Guwahati, he added.

The official said the Medanta Group proposed Rs 500 crore investment in the healthcare sector, while Dalmia Bharat Cement announced an investment to the tune of Rs 1,100 crore.

"Tourism sector, which is one of the key focus areas of the government, saw an investment proposal in concurrence of around Rs 736 crore. Infrastructure sector, a prime determinant of progress, saw a total investment proposal worth Rs 2,347 crore," the spokesperson said.

Other major companies announcing investments in Assam are: BPCL (Rs 350 crore), Essel Infraprojects (Rs 6,000 crore), Star Cement (Rs 2,100 crore), Infinity Infotech Parks (Rs 1,000 crore) and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India (Rs 400 crore), among others, he added.

The government has identified 12 focus sectors for the summit, including agriculture and food processing, handloom- textile-handicrafts, logistics, river transport-port township, IT-ITeS, pharmaceutical-medical equipment, plastics- petrochemicals and power.

Tourism-hospitality-wellness, civil aviation, petroleum- natural gas and startups-innovation are the other focus areas for the business tycoons.