Chief minister Hemant Soren has requested Tata Motors and another corporate group to open electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing units in Jharkhand.

Holding one-to-one meetings with corporate heads after a presentation on the prospects of the electric vehicle manufacturing sector in the state and the incentive assured for this sector in the Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (JIIPP) 2021, the chief minister raised with the Tata Group representatives, led by CEO-cum-managing-director Tata Steel T.V. Narendran, the prospects of setting up EV manufacturing unit in Jharkhand on the inaugural day of the Investors’ Meet at Delhi on Friday.

Welcoming the corporate executives, Soren said: “We have abundant amenities and opportunities in our state. In Jharkhand, a substantial part of the population is from SC/ST communities. If SC/ST people are employed, we will add more incentives to the policy. The proposed electric vehicle policy has been presented in front of you. If we look towards the future, then I believe electric vehicles are the future vehicles where we can do as much as we want.”

During a one-to-one meeting, the Dalmia cement group committed to investing Rs 500 crore in the state along with others in multiple sectors such as automobiles and ESDM.

Secretary of the Jharkhand industry department Pooja Singhal explained the incentives and provisions under the proposed Electric Vehicle Policy and promised that more incentive provisions would be added if the companies propose employment provisions for ST/SC communities.

The EV roundtable chaired by the chief minister also had participation from automobile majors, Honda, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors, Kinetic Green, Mahindra Electric and Piaggio Vehicles.

The chief minister held one-to-one discussions with Dalmia Bharat Cements, NTPC, and SAIL senior

officials on opening up cement, power and steel units in the state. Discussions were held with senior officials of Vibrant Spirits (Delhi) and EGPL/DSK Foods Limited (Delhi) on opening breweries and distilleries and with SPV Global (Mumbai) on textile units in Jharkhand.

Over 40 corporate heads in automobile, electric vehicles, cement, electronic system design and manufacturing, food processing, breweries and power sectors are scheduled to attend the second day of the investors’ meet hosted by Jharkhand government in Delhi on Saturday.

The investors’ meet on Saturday would see chief minister Soren launching the

JIIPP 2021, replacing the 2016 policy of the Raghubar Das-led BJP government, eyeing Rs 1 lakh crore investments and generating over 500,000 employment opportunities and luring investors with attractive incentives in various key sectors.

“We are focusing on seven high-priority sectors, namely textile and apparels, automobile, auto components and electric vehicles, agro-food processing, meat processing industries, pharmaceuticals, electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM),” said Jharkhand industry director Jitendra Kumar Singh who would give the welcome address on Saturday.