The fifth Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit, one of the biggest brands tohave emerged from Gujarat in the last decade, sets sail today.
DNA looks back at the last four editions of the biennial event and examines the aggressive policies, promotional packages, subtle political manoeuvres and transforming popular perceptions, that sculpted the biggest event in the state.
The entrepreneurial temper of the state of Gujarat has been tapped, trapped, pampered and popularised over the past decade as never before.
As the fifth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit kicks off today at the hurriedly constructed Mahatma Mandir at Gandhinagar, DNA looks back at the past four editions of the biennial event.
VGGIS is easily one of the biggest brands that have emerged from Gujarat in the last decade. One can love it, hate it, utilise it as an opportunity or discard it as unnecessary hype, but India Inc can certainly ignore it no more.
Though Modi-bashers will completely pooh-pooh the event as having failed in achieving what it tom-tommed. A serious business mind may find the astronomical MoUs as unreal.
The most striking aspect of the decade for Gujarat is the popular perception of ‘emergence of Gujarat’ as the right state to do business with. One cannot dispute the fact that in most urban houses across the country, drawing room and even kitchen conversations have been peppered with mentions of ‘how easy it is to do business in Gujarat!’ These summits may have amplified these views.
But for those involved in the business of business know well that Gujarat and its prosperous communities were always conducive to entrepreneurship. Prosperity has been in Gujarat much before the summits. But marketing and positioning their achievements wasn’t the forte of the state government.
That mantle was donned at an opportune moment by a resurgent Narendra Modi government in 2003.
High on the landslide victory of 2002, Modi decided to take an unusual plunge in 2003 by hosting a B2B (business to business) conclave in Gujarat with some modifications. Such meets, though extremely vital for businesses, were invariably hosted by industry federations and at best, supported by the state and central governments.
But in Gujarat, a ‘Modi’fied version of this age-old concept was adopted where in the state government itself hosted the event, invited companies to explore investment opportunities in the region, and in the process, interact and of course do business with existing interests in the state.
Thus was born Gujarat government’s biennial Vibrant Gujarat Business Summit 2003...and the rest is history.
What initially started as a platform for companies from different parts of the country to meet, swiftly metamorphosed into a showcase international event, with participation from different countries.
Very distinct political benefits to Modi reflected in consecutive election results. At the last count, 80 countries are slated to participate in VGGIS 2011.
“To begin with, it was a domestic event but now it is global. We have increased the reach and horizon substantially. Earlier it was only investment centric, now CM wants Gujarat to become a global destination. This time, knowledge sharing is the mainstay,” minister of state for industries, Saurabh Patel says.
At the event’s core is the activity to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Gujarat government and private companies. The MoUs promise to invest a certain amount to build a business facility in the state and the government’s pledge to facilitate their ventures by facilitating land acquisition, other infrastructure like road, power, water etc.
In 2003, it started low key, with reluctant participation from India Inc, uncomfortable with fresh allegations of 2002 communal riots on Modi.
These difficult memories faded for key business honchos by 2005 as hype started to build up about ‘big opportunities’ here. By 2007, the who’s who of India Inc descended to grab a pie of what Gujarat had to offer. And by 2009, the hype almost choked other states, Karnataka for one, into starting their own version of such a summit.
“VG summits are a very successful ‘destination branding’ exercise. This concept is usually talked about in context of tourism, but Gujarat has successfully positioned itself in totality,” says Prof Abraham Koshy, faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and an eminent branding expert who has co-authoured Marketing Management — A South Asian Perspective with global marketing guru Philip Kotler.
“Everything about Gujarat is branding. The important thing is that these initiatives are not discarded after one attempt, it is sustained. The state is teaching the rest of the country how to utilise the power of branding,” he adds.
Statistics of cumulative investments worth Rs19.66 lakh crore have been released by the state government over the past seven years. Intense debate rages amongst economic analysts and observers over the implementation of these MoUs —with government promising 69% in advanced stages of implementation while independent agencies and skeptics pegging it around 25%.
“VGGIS sends a message to the international community that something dynamic is happening here and there is official recognition of it. It gives coherence to Gujarat; unpleasant footnotes are diminishing. However, Gujaratis were always doing well in business. Not one man can change it,” says sociologist Shiv Viswanathan.
As VGGIS ’11 sets sail today, DNA examines the defining points that changed greater perceptions and larger initiatives of the government that facilitated investments in the state.
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