Kerala: Rs 40,000 cr investment in 4 years

"Concerted efforts and a focused approach by the state government in the last four and half years had helped trigger the boom," state industries minister V K Ebrahim Kunju.

When the UDF government came to power, the then Chief Minister A K Antony had promised investments to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) in five years.

"Today we have facilitated a flow of investment of Rs 40,000 crore," he said. The central sector investments in Kerala had increased from 1.79 per cent in 2000 to 2.77 per cent in 2003 considering the total all India investment.

The cascading effect of this large volume of investments could spearhead the state economy to be on par with the national growth rate, since most of the investments have come in the core sectors of the economy, Kunju said.

The linkage effect of these investments could impart a new dynamism to the state's economy.

Major investment projects like the Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) LNG terminal by Petronet LNG, expansion of NTPC Kayamkulam project (Rs 7,000 crore), Petrochemical Complex by Gas Authority of India Ltd (Rs 7,000 crore), Port-based Special Economic zone and related projects (Rs 7,000 crore) are coming in Kerala.

The minister said the Global Investors Meet held in Kerala in 2003 was a catalyst in bringing in massive investments in the state.