Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said many countries were keen to offer all help for the project, but he ensured that the project did not go out of India.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that a rupee spent by him sending an SMS to Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata resulted in a Rs 2,000 crore investment in the form of Tata Nano car plant at Sanand.
Modi was speaking after inaugurating the plant on Wednesday morning.
“I sent the SMS to Ratan Tata saying ‘Welcome to Gujarat’ after the group announced its pullout from West Bengal.
Modi said many countries were keen to offer all help for the Nano project, but they ensured that the project did not go out of India.
Nano and Gujarat have become examples of development, and will be discussed for long, he said.
He also praised the government machinery saying it was matching the corporate culture in efficiency, and playing a major role in fast development of the state.
Modi urged the Tata Group chairman to make more investments in Gujarat — which was their own state — and assured all support from the government.
Earlier, Modi announced that the state government planned to develop an eco-friendly city between the emerging industrial hotspots of Sanand and Changodar.
“We are committed to integrated all-round development in the state. We have signed a MoU with Japan and will work with it to develop an eco-friendly city in Sanand-Changodar belt. It will be an environment friendly industrial centre, a model of urban development,” Modi said after inaugurating the Rs2000-crore Nano plant.
Modi also spoke of major developmental plans at Dholera special investment region and Dahej.
He also said the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor would lead to massive developments in the region.
Responding, Ratan Tata referred to his statement at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2007. “I said once that you are stupid if you are not in Gujarat. By implication, then I was stupid because I was not. But now that we have the Nano plant here, we are not so stupid anymore,” Tata said.
“When we searched for another Nano plant, we wanted to move to peace and harmony. Gujarat stood out against all others in guaranteeing us all that we needed. ‘It was not just Tata’s project, it is our project’, Modi told us. Everything has been done in time in the past few months. We owe a great lot of gratitude for the support and confidence placed in us,” he said.
Dressed in somber blue, Tata played to the gallery by announcing in slightly accented Gujarati “Aapne to Gujarat na je hata ane have paachha aavya chhe.”
Needless to say, to thunderous applause.
“It is great to see here this territory of Sanand which will give people of India a chance of own transport,” Tata said.
Tata said investments in Gujarat will not be limited to the Nano plant.
“There are more surprises to come,” Tata said.
Recalling to his speech in Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2007, Tata said that ‘if you are not in Gujarat you are stupid.’ “We have presence in Gujarat with Tata Chemicals and other projects. But after pulling out Nano plant from West Bengal was my implications of being stupid, I recalled my statement and realised that I should move to Gujarat,” he said and added in Gujarati, Ame ahyna che, bhar gaya ta, Gujarat ma pacha avya che (We belong to this place, we went out and now returned to Gujarat again).
After inaugurating the plant, Modi and Tata also rolled out Nano from its assembly line.
Built in a record time of 14 months starting November 2008, the plant is spread over 725 acres. A vendor park in the vicinity takes up another 375 acres, taking the project spread to 1,100 acres.
The Sanand plant has a capacity to make 2.50 lakh cars annually, expandable to 3.5 lakh cars on ‘rebalancing’.
The plant directly employ 2,400 people.
As the capacity is raised, the project, along with ancilliaries, is expected to generate about 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
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