Business projects worth Rs. 5,000 crore announced at North East Development Summit.

The recently concluded North East Development Summit held here marks a major outreach to the region on the part of the BJP as governments controlled by the party sought to showcase efforts to deliver investment and infrastructure through roads, oil pipelines, air services and food processing projects.

The Manipur government announced business projects worth Rs. 5,000 crore from the two-day summit, with a substantial chunk going to a white oil pipeline from Numaligarh via Nagaland budgeted at Rs 1,400 crore.

One of the more bullish investors was the 'desi' Ayurvedic giant Patanjali which has also invested heavily in the neighbouring state of Assam. Patanjali managing director Acharya Balakrishna said the company was committed to investing in the north-east.

'In the area of food processing, the total investment in 2016-17 was Rs. 11,000 crore, of which Patanjali invested Rs. 1,200 crore,' Balakrishna said. During the summit, Patanjali signed an MoU with the Manipur government for around Rs. 650 crore, said a government official.

The summit's success comes in the backdrop of efforts to ramp up BJP's presence in the region, especially in Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland that are slated to go to polls in 2018.

TOI