Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, along with a high powered delegation, had a meeting with Chairman, Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra at Mumbai on Thursday for exploring collaboration opportunities for investment in various sectors in the state.

The CM urged Mahindra to consider investing in the areas of tourism, automobiles and information technology.

Mahindra expressed keen interest to invest particularly in the areas of tourism and real estate. He also expressed to partner with Chief Minister’s initiative of Nayee Rahein, Nayee Manzilein. He shared that with the expansion at Kandahar and greenfield project at Theog, the group is going to invest Rs 200 crore which would also provide employment to more than 200 persons.

Industries Minister Bikram Singh appreciated the idea of waste to energy project of the group and requested Mahindra Group to consider this as a pilot project at Shimla, Dharamshala, etc.

Mahindra Group also informed that the group was exploring HP as the next destination for electric vehicles as well as in the areas of intelligent traffic management for smart cities. The group is also keen on implementing enterprise solutions for government bodies.

During the discussions, Mahindra Group also showed interest in waste to energy and intended to invest in Himachal as there was a vast potential to convert pine cones and needles into energy.

Later, the Chief Minister and other members of the delegation met Chairman, Godrej Group, Adi Godrej and requested to increase group’s presence in the state in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and real estate sectors. He apprised that the state government has created a very encouraging and promising environment for the growth of the industry. He urged to consider setting up a tool room in the state as his company has great expertise in the same. He also extended an invitation for participating in global Investors Meet being organised by the state government at Dharamshala in November 2019.

Adi Godrej informed the delegation that he will send a suitable note to all his businesses and explore business opportunities in the state.

Additional Chief Secretaries Dr Shrikant Baldi, Ram Subhag Singh and Manoj Kumar, Principal Secretary Prabodh Saxena, Director Industries Hans Raj Sharma, Special Secretary Abid Hussain Sadiq, Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister Vinay Singh were present on the occasion among others.