BANGALORE, INDIA: Bangalore's harassed industry leaders, at the receiving end of the city's crumbling infrastructure, were swept off their feet when they were wooed assiduously by the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
 
"Experience Gujarat. Feel Gujarat. Then make your decision to invest in the state," Modi said while laying out the red carpet for the city's industrialists at an exclusive gathering on Thursday evening.

In the city as the chief guest for the BangaloreIT.biz today, Modi used the opportunity showcase the state's impressive industrial strides and widely-appreciated physical infrastructure.

Modi and his team did a hard sell of the forthcoming 4th edition of Vibrant Gujarat, the global investor meet, to be held in Ahmedabad on January 12-13.

The Gujarat CM walked into the hall with a thunderous applause, indicating the awe in which the charismatic leader is held by industrialists. The meeting was off limits to the media but CyberMedia had exclusive access to it.

Buoyed by the recent decision of Tata Motors to relocate its much-awaited Nano car manufacturing plant to the state, Modi impressed the gathering of 50 top city industrialists, including the Biocon chief, Mrs Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Novozymes head, G S Krishnan with some statistics.

Gujarat has been recording a GDP growth of over 10 per cent for the last 10 years and the industrial growth rate was in excess of 20 per cent.

While reeling out the state's strengths in a host of industries such as petrochemicals, textiles, power, pharmaceuticals, auto and engineering, Narendra Modi highlighted two key sectors, information technology and biotechnology, for special attention.

Highlighting the state's award-winning e-governance model, the chief minister said the state is now focusing on information technology hardware and IT-enabled services (ITES).

Gujarat plans to set up 15 IT/ITES/Electronic special economic zones (SEZs). These SEZs are being set up by big industrial groups such as the Tatas, DLF, Adani and Rahejas.

Modi said a 500-acre mega project, Gujarat International Finance Tech-City (GIFT), will come up in Gandhinagar to attract the global financial services industry. Two ready-to-use high tech facilities, Creative Infocity Park at Gandhinagar and GNFC Infotower and Astron IT park at Ahmedabad were also there for the IT industry.

Biotechnology is the next frontier the state is looking at seriously, said the Chief Minister. The state is setting up a Biotech SEZ at Savli, Vadodara which will be one of the largest in the country covering 1,700 acres.