Dubai: Dubai’s Sharaf Group will invest Rs5 billion to build logistics parks in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and double it subsequently. The proposed plan aims to create direct and indirect jobs for up to 3,600 people.
“We are happy to announce that we have finalised our investments plans with Uttar Pradesh at three locations,” said Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Sharafuddin Sharaf, Vice Chairman, Sharaf Group. The Group’s interest is multi-modal logistics parks with rail and road connectivity at Kanpur, Moradabad and Varanasi.
This follows confirmation that LuLu Group, the hypermarket retailer, is also planning a Rs5 billion commitment for multiple food processing units in the state. According to Saleem V.I., Chief Operating Officer, Lulu Group International, “ As of last year, we have done around Rs40 billion of exports from India and more than 50 per cent is from Uttar Pradesh.”
“Uttar Pradesh has witnessed a high MoU conversion rate in India,” said Satish Mahana, the state’s Minister for Industrial Development. “MoUs worth Rs1.78 trillion out of the signed MoUs worth Rs4.28 trillion at the UP Investors Summit held in 2018 are under various stages of implementation.
“The state generated fresh leads worth around Rs660 billion at dedicated helpdesk set up post-COVID-19 in April 2020.”
The 'Uttar Pradesh Week' held to coincide with the Expo too did its part in generating fresh leads for investments. “UP jumped 12 positions to be second in India on ‘ease of doing business’ ranking and seven positions to rank sixth on logistics ease across different states’ survey," said Mahana. "The state government has introduced more than 21 policies and various land reforms to support investor needs.”
