Kerala PSU sell-off not on meet agenda

KOCHI: The Kerala government has not made any plans for the sale of PSUs in connection with the forthcoming Global Investors Meet (GIM). Addressing reporters here on Monday Gigi Thompson, managing director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) said that the GIM will showcase major projects in health, tourism, education, infrastructure, entertainment, real estate etc. Investment for these projects is mainly sought from the NRI investors, he said.
Meanwhile, the state government has received confirmation from around 60 international delegates for participating in the meet. Mr Gigi Thompson said that around 200 local entrepreneurs, about 100 entrepreneurs from other states and close to 200 delegates from abroad consisting mostly of NRI investors are expected to participate in the GIM.
Prospective investors are expected from countries like Canada, US, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Poland, Korea etc. The meet will be held at Kochi from January 18 to 19 and will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Mr Thompson was of the view that a realistic projection of investment inflow from the meet would be around Rs 7,044 crore. Of this, Rs 1,005.2 crore is expected to come in as a result of government policy initiative alone. As a result of the initiative taken under the GIM, various projects worth Rs 1,324.1 crore is likely to come into the state. Projects that are under various stages of development and which will be taken up as part of the meet are expected to attract Rs 4,715 crore. Reacting to the allegations that the state''s interest are being surrendered to the multinational companies, he said that no MNCs or foreign companies have so far evinced interest in participating in the meet. “We are expecting investment mostly from NRIs,� he said.