The Nath Roadshow

The new government is in a hurry to get business going in the state, and the recent summit has rekindled hope

- Rahul Noronha

Aware that his reputation as a business facilitator will be put to the test, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath organised the first investor summit of his 10-month-old government at Indore on October 18. ‘Magnificent Madhya Pradesh’ was meticulously planned and marketed as a ‘different’ kind of event— and so, the standard-fare MoU signings were avoided. “I wanted this meet to be unorthodox and unconventional, so I will tell you what this meet is not, rather than what it is,” Nath told captains of industry and delegates at the inaugural. “It is not a jamboree, nor a mela nor an MoU-signing spree. We have something to offer to you, which is why we called you,” he added.

While the MoU-based approach makes for good optics, past records show that actual investment is often just a fraction of what is promised. As per the industries department records, the Global Investor Summits of 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2014, organised under the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of the BJP, saw more than 2,300 MoUs signed; only about a hundred have been commissioned so far while about 500 were cancelled. A number of companies were also allotted land, which still remains unutilised.