CII Partnership Summit off to a flying start
At the inauguration of the 22nd CII Partnership Summit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a new programme called "Stand Up India" wherein every branch of every bank, public or private sector, will have to fund one SC/ST and one woman entrepreneur. Meanwhile, Anil Ambani announced a massive Rs.5,000 crore investment for setting up a world-class defence manufacturing facility at Rambilli, Andhra Pradesh.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit was started in 1995 to mark the centenary of the CII. It generally sees over 1200 delegates from across the globe with over 40% attending from countries like the USA, UK, China, France, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Canada, UAE, and Saudi Arabia among others. It is one of the most important business events in India.
According to a recent study by the World Bank, Andhra Pradesh, by virtue of its investor-friendly policies, was ranked 2nd in India in ease of doing business.
The 22nd CII Partnership Summit is being held from 10th-12th January 2016 at Harbour Park in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Over 1,400 delegates from large industrial houses, including 350 foreign delegates from 41 countries are expected to be present for the summit. Andhra Pradesh is looking to sign some big deals through the summit and place itself on the global industrial map.
Andhra Pradesh's Communications Advisor Parakal Prabhakar told the Press Trust of India, "We want to make Andhra a manufacturing hub so that the foreign investment flows into the state."
The 22nd CII Partnership Summit is expected to see investments of over Rs.200,000 crores through the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoU). According to Industries Secretary SS Rawat, since 25-30% of MoUs are expected to shape up into projects, at least Rs.50,000 crore worth of projects would be realised in the next few years in sectors like infrastructure, IT, retail, energy, logistics and tourism.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a bilateral or multilateral formal agreement between two or more parties expressing a convergence of will. Although MoUs are not legally binding, they carry a degree of seriousness and mutual respect.
According to CII Southern Region regional director Mahesh Natarajan, over 400 business-to-business meets are scheduled between various companies across various sectors during the three-day Partnership Summit in Vishakhapatnam.
