Narendra Modi in China, says Gujarat is different from rest of India

BEIJING: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi wooed Chinese investments here on Wednesday saying his state was very different from the rest of India.
“Gujarat represents a very different model of growth,” he told a gathering of business executives while explaining that the State’s growth was both futuristic and sustainable in social and environmental terms.
With global businesses focusing on “transaction costs” that rely on conditions like stability and good governance, Gujarat offers one of the best locations in the world for investments, he said.Modi said his government has created an aura of vibrancy in both social and economic life in Gujarat using “global practices and local devices” as a yardstick.
The main focus of his sales pitch is his plan to create new “world class cities” under the Special Investment Region program. He invited Chinese businesses to invest in the planned $8 billion Dholera SIR, which would be a self-contained manufacturing and financial hub on the proposed Delhi-Mumbai corridor.
The Gujarat chief minister flew into Beijing last night in a specially chartered 33-seat aircraft carrying officials from Gandhinagar and Indian business executives. He is scheduled to visit Shanghai and Chengdu over the next two days.
Modi also got a Chinese company, TBEA, to lobby for Gujarat with other Chinese businesses. TBEA, which has bagged a major contract in Gujarat, recently kicked up a controversy when it displayed a wrong map of India that excludes Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh at a function in New Delhi.
In his presentation, TBEA vice president Leng Yong cited the government policy structure and infrastructure in Gujarat as two important reasons why his company chose Gujarat among other Indian states.
The chief minister later told a Chinese television that Gujarat has as much to offer by way of stable policies, world class infrastructure and business opportunities as Japan or any other place in the world.
Gujarat’s development potential also came in for praise by Shi Yong Hong, the vice president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinary and Electronic Products. Major Indian companies have made successful investments in different parts of India, and the two countries were poised for a long run of mutually fruitful relationship, he said.