PM Modi pitches for big investments from top CEOs

Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met some of the top global CEOs on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit as he lured investments across sectors to boost the economy and create jobs. A day before inaugurating the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit on January 10, the prime minister met executives of Suzuki Motor Corp, Micron Technology and AP Moller, and discussed industry issues and investment opportunities.

Modi and Toshihiro Suzuki, Representative Director & President, Suzuki Motor Corp, "discussed Maruti Suzuki's plans to make India a strong player in the global automotive market by exporting Made in India vehicles, along with deploying global best practices related to vehicle scrapping and vehicle recycling into India," the Prime Minister's Office said in a post on X.

Maruti Suzuki is looking to set up a second car manufacturing plant in Gujarat.

This will be the firm's fifth plant in the country. "Mr. Sanjay Mehrotra, the President and CEO of Micron Technology, held a meeting with PM @narendramodi in Gandhinagar. They discussed Micron's efforts to enhance the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India," the PMO said in a separate post on X.

US chip making giant Micron has started construction of a USD 2.75 billion semiconductor factory in Sanand, about 40-km from Ahmedabad. The plant, which will focus on transforming wafters into ball-grid arrays (BGA) integrated circuit packages, memory modules and solid-state drives, is expected to be ready by December this year. The prime minister also met Ahmed bin Sulayem, the Group Chairman & CEO of DP World. "They discussed DP World's plans to further bolster investment in India, especially pertaining to creating sustainable, green, and energy-efficient ports, and world class sustainable logistic infrastructure," the PMO said in another post.

DP World had last year signed a concession agreement with the Deendayal Port Authority to develop, operate and maintain a new 2.19 million TEU per annum mega-container terminal at Kandla in Gujarat. The Dubai-based logistics company currently operates five container terminals in India -- two in Mumbai, one each in Mundra, Cochin and Chennai -- with a combined capacity of approximately 6 million TEUs. Modi also met Keith Svendsen, CEO of A.P. Moller.

"The PM welcomed their expansion plans in the GIFT City. Their discussions encompassed the crucial topics of green hydrogen and the development of logistics infrastructure," the PMO said. He also had a meeting with Professor Iain Martin, Vice Chancellor of Deakin University. "They had a productive discussion on enhancing collaboration between government and academic institutions pertaining to cybersecurity.

The PM also welcomed Deakin University to collaborate with Indian universities for promoting research and innovation," the PMO said in a post on X.