UAE investors ink MoUs worth Rs 218 bn with Orissa

United Arab Emirates investors have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth $2.76 billion (Rs 218 billion) with the Odisha state government after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Dubai. Patnaik recently concluded an investment roadshow in the city, including an Investor’s Meet, where he met some of UAE’s key business groups to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). The business groups that met Patnaik included the Lulu Group, NBTC Group, Sharaf Group, Twenty Fourteen Holding and Tablez Group, ERAM Group, Sobha Group, Arab and India Spices LLC and Tabreed. The Investors Meet was jointly organised with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Embassy of India in the United Arab Emirates. The announcement comes after the state approved more than 250 large-scale industrial and infrastructure project proposals worth $50 billion in sectors such as metals and metal downstream, chemicals and petrochemicals, textiles and apparel, food processing, logistics and clean energy in the last two years, UAE media reported. The investment proposals include a Rs 15 billion investment by UAE-based multinational retail conglomerate Lulu Group International, which signed an MoU to explore investment opportunities in Odisha to set up hypermarkets, shopping malls and agriculture and seafood sourcing and processing hubs in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela.Also Read: India, EU conclude first round of trade negotiationsUP government to introduce a new MSME policy soon