As we have already gone through the Part 1 of World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 that was held in Davos, Switzerland. Now here we are providing the details of agreements signed with Indian states during the meeting.
Andhra Pradesh signs $16 billion pacts involving Adani, and Greenko
The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has signed renewables investment pacts worth around $16 billion with three companies’ viz. Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), Greenko, Singapore’s GIC sovereign wealth fund; and Aurobindo Realty & Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.
- The state has the potential to increase the renewable energy installed capacity to up to 33,000 Megawatts (MW).
Key Points:
i.With an agreement with Adani Green Energy, AP aims to establish green energy projects including a 3,700 MW pumped hydro storage project and a 10,000 MW solar power project, which will involve an investment of about Rs 600 billion ($7.74 billion).
ii.The rest will come from Greenko and Aurobindo Realty & Infrastructure, which will set up projects related to hydro, solar and wind power.
iii.The above investments will create 38,000 jobs.
iv.ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India will also invest Rs 1,000 crore towards the brownfield expansion of its Vizag pellet plant in AP.
AP CM Meetings:
i.The Chief minister (CM) of AP, Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy met Bahrain Finance Minister Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa and discussed exports and investments in the field of education.
ii.He also met IBM CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Aravind Krishna and discussed technology and skill development to transform Vizag into a technology hub.
Point to Remember:
India has plans to install 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, in a bid to cut carbon emissions and clean up air in its cities.
Maharashtra inks investments worth Rs 30,379 cr
The Maharashtra Government in the 10th edition of its Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0 programme at Maharashtra Pavilion in WEF 2022 signed 23 MoUs (Memoranda of Understanding) amounting to USD 4 billion (Rs 30,379 crore).
- These will generate more than 66,000 jobs.
- With these agreements, the total MoUs under this program have reached to 121 bringing the total investment in the state to Rs 2.2 lakh crore (USD 29 billion) with a potential to generate almost 4,00,000 jobs.
- Maharashtra joined the WEF’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) to advance regional efforts to fight plastic pollution.
Key Points:
i.Of the committed investments, over 55% are Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) from countries viz. Singapore, Indonesia, the US (United States), and Japan in sectors like pharmaceuticals and medical device, IT (Information Technology), data centres, textiles, food processing and steel among others.
ii.The Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0 program was conceptualized under the Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray for strengthening the resilience of the state’s economy. In the previous nine editions, 98 MoUs were signed which are now at various stages of implementation.
iii.In last two years from October 2019 to December 2021 Maharashtra received 26% of total FDI, which was the highest in India.
Key Investors:
i.Textile players Indorama Corporation and Indocount Industries Ltd are investing in Maharashtra’s textile hubs of Nagpur and Kolhapur respectively.
ii.Microsoft is investing to establish Data Centres in Pune with an investment amount to the tune of Rs 3200 crores.
iii.Sinarmas Pulp and Paper Pvt. Ltd., an entity of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a leading pulp and paper company from Indonesia is investing Rs 10,500 crores for paper and pulp manufacturing in Raigad.
iv.Havmor Ice Creams Pvt Ltd is setting up an ice cream manufacturing unit in Pune.
v.Sonai eatable and Goyal Proteins is into oil extraction.
vi.Gramsci Business Hub pvt ltd will be investing Rs 5000 crore in the IT sector.
Participants:
State’s Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray, Industries Minister Subhash Desai, Energy Minister Nitin Raut, IAS officers Ashish Kumar Singh, Baldev Singh, Vijay Singhal, Dr P. Anbalagan and PD Malikner were present during the MoU signing ceremony along with industry representatives from the signing companies.
ReNew Power signs MoU to invest Rs 50,000 cr in 7 years in Karnataka
Gurugram (Haryana) based Renewable energy firm ReNew Power signed a MoU with the Karnataka government at the WEF 2022 to invest Rs 50,000 crore in the state over the next 7 years.
- It was signed in the presence of Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai.
What is in the MoU?
ReNew Power will set up production units in Renewable Energy, Battery Storage and Green Hydrogen with potential to create employment opportunities for 30,000 people. These units will be set up in 2 phases over the next 7 years.
- In the first phase Rs 11,900 crore will be invested on the ongoing projects in the State and they will be operationalized in the next 2 years
- In the second phase the company plans to invest Rs 37,500 crore to set up Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen units over the next 5 years.
ReNew Power has already implemented over 120 Wind, Solar and Hydro Power projects in 9 Indian states; and is generating about 12 Gigawatts of power through these plants.
Karnataka CM Meetings:
The CM held a series of meetings with industry captains from various countries which include the following:
i.He met Chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal who expressed keen interest to set up a ‘Mega Data Centre’ in the state.
ii.The Adani Group also expressed interest to invest nearly Rs 50,000 crore in Karnataka.
Telangana bags Rs 4,200cr investments
The Telangana Minister for IT and Industries Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao along with his delegation was on a 10-day trip to the UK and Davos during which the state attracted investments worth over Rs 4,200 crore.
- He attended 45 business meetings, four roundtables and four panel discussions with top executives of global corporations.
- The primary aim of the trip is to showcase Telangana as an investment destination for global companies.
- The Telangana pavilion at WEF, set up with a slogan ‘India welcomes the world, Telangana First Stop’.
Key Investors:
i.German auto parts maker ZF will inaugurate its newest facility centre in Hyderabad on June 1, 2022. The ZF facility centre was constructed at a cost of about Rs 322 crore, which will create job opportunities for about 3,000 people.
- Hyderabad will be ZF’s largest facility among the 100 locations and 18 major development centres across the globe.
ii.DFE Pharma’s centre of excellence Closer to the Formulator (C2F) will come up in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.
- The C2F centre will help pharmaceutical companies to shorten the time from a concept to a finished commercial product.
iii.Lulu Group will invest Rs 500 crore in Telangana in the food processing sector.
iv.Swiss Re will set up its office in Hyderabad in August 2022. Swiss Re is a 160-year-old insurance organisation, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and operates in 80 locations globally.
v.Hyundai also committed Rs 1,400 crore to put up testing tracks at the proposed Telangana Mobility Valley in Vikarabad.
vi.Stadler Rail in Joint Venture (JV) with Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives also committed an investment of Rs 1,000 crore for setting up a rail coach factory in Kondakal of Rangareddy.
- The proposed unit will create 2,500 jobs.
vii.Schneider Electric‘s Rs 300 crore plan to expand its presence in Hyderabad with a second plant at Shamshabad will create 1,000 jobs.
viii.EMPE Diagnostics is also planning an over Rs 200 crore investment in setting up a global production unit for Tuberculosis diagnostics kits at Genome Valley with a capacity to make 2 million TB kits per annum.
ix.Spanish player Chemo Pharma has Rs 100 crore expansion plans and GMM Pfaudler has Rs 33 crore plan to expand its glass lining equipment manufacturing unit for pharma and chemical sectors.
x.Ferring Pharma, headquartered in Switzerland, will establish another formulation unit in Hyderabad, investing US$64.49 million.
xi.Ashirvad Pipes by Aliaxis will set up a Greenfield facility with an investment of Rs 500 crore in Telangana to manufacture storage and distribution of plastic piles, fittings and accessories. The new facility is expected to create 500 jobs.
Telangana govt signed MoU with Mastercard
The Telangana government on signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mastercard to formalise a Digital State Partnership aimed at delivering world-class solutions that contribute to the rapid digitisation of the state’s citizen services with a focus on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and farmers.
- As part of this Digital State Partnership, Mastercard will collaborate with Telangana in priority areas including disbursements, digitisation of agricultural supply chains, cybersecurity, and digital literacy. The solutions are also aimed at supporting disbursements in the State, building capacity among SMBs and enabling farmers to increase their incomes.
Pfizer commits medicines, vaccines to 45 lower-income countries
Pfizer Inc. launched ‘An Accord for a Healthier World. to provide all of Pfizer’s patented, high-quality medicines and vaccines available in the U.S. or the European Union on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries.
- The Accord seeks to greatly reduce the health inequities that exist between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world.
- Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda are the first five countries to commit to join the Accord.
About World Economic Forum (WEF):
Founder and Executive Chairman– Klaus Schwab
Headquarters– Cologny/Geneva, Switzerland
