Microsoft, Pepsico among US firms planning investment in UP

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has said it is expecting an investment of RS 2,866 crore with three American tech giants Microsoft and MAQ Software, and PepsiCo coming forward to set up manufacturing units in Uttar Pradesh. The state is expecting a boost to the industrial development with the huge foreign investment anticipated.

The government spokesman, who relayed this information, also said that this is estimated to generate employment to 7,500 people.

Microsoft and MAQ Software will set up their units in Noida and PepsiCo has already started construction of its factory in Mathura, said an Industrial Department official.

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum with which US investors are associated, is expecting other US firms also to join the trend spurred by the move of the three giants in the state.

The firms have also contacted the UP government in this regard, said Siddhartha Nath Singh, the MSME and Export Promotion Minister.

According to Singh, companies including Adobe, Amazon, American Tower Corporation, Apple, Caterpillar, Delphi, Cisco, Deloitte, Emerson, Ernst & Young, Google, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan & Company, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, MasterCard, Mondelez International, Carlyle Group, Walmart, Warburg Pincus, IHS Markit and USIBC are willing to invest in UP and in other parts of the country.

In an interaction with the entrepreneurs associated with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, the representatives of these companies highlighted their areas of interest in investment, such as medical equipment manufacturing, food processing, automobiles, IT and digital payments.

Singh said that more than 40 foreign companies, including American companies, proposed to invest about Rs 17,000 crore in UP in the last four and a half years of the Yogi Adityanath government.

Microsoft has been allotted 60,000 sq. metres of land in Noida to set up its 'largest' centre in the country, which will employ 3500 people.

The multinational software giant has told the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority that the company will start operations within the stipulated time of five years so that people residing in NCR can benefit from it at the earliest.  At present, the company has its largest unit in Gachi Baoli, Hyderabad.

MAQ India Private Limited has also been allotted 16,350 sq. metres of land in Noida's Sector-145 to set up its plant.  The IT major will invest Rs 252 crore to set up its unit which will provide employment to around 2500 people.

The multinational food and beverage company PepsiCo is setting up a potato chips factory in Kosi Kalan, Mathura.  For this,  it is building a production facility at a cost of about Rs 800 crore which is likely to start this year itself. The employment potential of this is said to be 1,500 and local farmers who will supply potatoes to this unit are also projected to benefit.

(Based on IANS feed)