Gujarat attracted $ 140 b investment: Modi

Talking to reporters, he said Gujarat had a success rate of 80 per cent in converting commitments into reality.

After the conclusion of the Global Investors Summit-2007 held on January 12 and 13, 352 MoUs were inked aggregating prospective investments worth Rs 4,61,835 crore, he said.

“Special economic zones (SEZs) in Gujarat are going to be a model for India’s driving force of future economic progress as land acquisition is not a problem at all. On the contrary, SEZs are designed to utilise fallow and saline land on the vast sea coast,” he said.

So far, 33 SEZs had been approved and not a single case of controversy had emerged, he said, adding it was the only state to have less than 0.5 per cent loss of mandays with utmost peaceful labour.

The Planning Commission had asked Gujarat to achieve a growth rate of 11.2 per cent, Modi said, adding agriculture would be a thrust area for achieving this target. The state had planned to achieve 13 per cent growth in agriculture while the natural growth rate was only four per cent.

“Most of our farmers are cotton growers. Unlike Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, our state has not had a single case of farmer’s suicide,” Modi said