Dr. Abdul Kalam, the ex-president of India and the famous scientist had once said:

“India should walk on her own shadow – we must have our own development model”.

Dr. Kalam sure must be glad that Gujarat took a clue from him and developed its own Gujarat model of development which sure has benefited the state. Have a look at these numbers shared in a Column by Mahesh Vyas that appeared in the Financial Express :

1. Gujarat has been the top-ranking state in terms of new investments being completed in the past three years. It also topped the list in four of the last five years. Completion of projects is the most meaningful indicator of investments. This is when the investments actually turn into productive assets, when they create new employment and start generating new goods or services.
2. In 2012-13, according to CMIE’s CapEx database, projects worth R577 billion were commissioned in Gujarat. This was way above the next state, Maharashtra’s R418 billion worth of commissioning.
3. In 2011-12, Gujarat’s lead was even larger with investments of R686 billion over Maharashtra’s R343 billion.
4. In 2010-11, Gujarat completed projects worth R377 billion and Karnataka followed with completions worth R334 billion.
5. In 2009-10, it was Andhra Pradesh that led the states with the completion of R674 billion worth of projects. But, in 2008-09, Gujarat was way ahead of the pack with R716 billion worth of project completion.
6. Easy allotment of land by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has played a major role in attracting investments into the state since 2008. Compared to the 285 hectares of land allotted in 2008-09, 1,564 hectares of land was allotted in 2009-10, and another 907 hectares was allotted in 2010-11.
7. The Kutch-Jamnagar barren belt accounts for a mere 7% of the population of Gujarat but more than 40% of the total projects commissioned in Gujarat during the period 2008-09 through 2012-13 were in this region. In contrast, the Ahmedabad-Kheda belt, which accounts for about 22% of the population, received only 7% of the investments.

(Data source: statesofindia.cmie.com)

In closing the report Mr. Vyas argues that aggressive marketing by the government of Gujarat, easy availability of land and tax sops have helped attract investments into Gujarat.