Rajkot, Gujarat, 11 January (H.S.): Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference for the Kutch and Saurashtra regions at Marwadi University here on Sunday, marking his first visit to his home state since the dawn of 2026.

In a compelling address, he portrayed the summit not merely as an investment forum but as a pivotal chapter in modern India's odyssey from aspiration to unassailable global stature. Delivering the keynote amid an assembly of industrial titans, diplomats, and policymakers, Modi extolled Gujarat's regional dynamism as the vanguard of the nation's Reform-Perform-Transform ethos.

Dawn of Regional Renaissance

PM Modi commenced by invoking his morning pilgrimage to Lord Somnath for divine blessings, seamlessly transitioning to the Rajkot podium where the mantra of Vikas bhi, Virasat bhi – development alongside heritage – reverberated. He extended a warm welcome to delegates from across India and abroad, framing the Vibrant Gujarat Summit's evolution over ten editions as a global paragon of collaborative progress.

From its nascent goal of spotlighting Gujarat's latent potential to its current mantle as a nexus for international partnerships, the platform now unites corporates, cooperatives, MSMEs, startups, and multilateral institutions in symbiotic dialogue.

The Prime Minister lauded the Regional Summit's innovation in harnessing Gujarat's diverse regional sinews: coastal prowess in Kutch, tribal vitality elsewhere, industrial clusters, and agrarian legacies. With a quarter-century elapsed since the millennium's cusp, he credited Gujarat's populace for propelling India toward third-largest-economy status amid surging global prognostications.

Economic Triumphs and Reform MomentumIndia stands as the world's swiftest-expanding major economy, PM Modi proclaimed, buttressed by subdued inflation, record agricultural yields, primacy in milk and generic pharmaceuticals, and unrivaled vaccine output.

The Reform-Perform-Transform paradigm manifests in feats like global leadership in mobile data consumption, UPI's dominance in real-time digital payments, and a leap from import dependence to second-place mobile manufacturing.

PM Modi spotlighted India's third-ranked startup ecosystem, solar capacity, aviation market, and metro infrastructure, alongside accolades from the IMF as global growth's locomotive, S&P's rating elevation after 18 years, and Fitch's endorsement of macroeconomic rectitude.

In an epoch of international tumult, India's political steadfastness, policy coherence, and burgeoning neo-middle class forge boundless vistas, rendering this the right time for investors – especially in Saurashtra-Kutch.

Saurashtra-Kutch: From Adversity to AnchorModi evoked the regions' phoenix-like resurgence from the century's inaugural earthquake in Kutch and Saurashtra's protracted droughts, when water scarcity compelled arduous treks and power was capricious. Today's youth, he noted, inherit mere anecdotes of despair, supplanted by self-forged destinies through resolute toil. Rajkot's 2.5 lakh MSMEs forge everything from rudimentary tools to aerospace components and opulent jewelry, embodying a spectrum from economical to high-tech fabrication.

Alang's unparalleled shipbreaking precinct recycles a third of global tonnage, pioneering circular economies, while Morbi's tiles dominate worldwide.PM Modi foresaw – and now beholds – a Mini Japan triad of Morbi, Jamnagar, and Rajkot. Dholera's semiconductor vanguard and Kutch's colossal 30 GW hybrid renewable park – vaster than Paris – herald green ascendancy, complemented by green hydrogen bastions and grid-stabilizing battery systems. Ports like Pipavav and Mundra propel automotive exports, with fisheries infrastructure beckoning processors.

Talent Pipeline and Tourism TapestryAn industry-primed workforce rivals infrastructure as paramount, PM Modi stressed, with Gujarat's pedagogical vanguard – Kaushalya Skill University partnering Australasian and Singaporean peers, National Defence University, and Gatishakti's logistics forge – assuring investor certitude. Foreign academia flocks hither, birthing campuses.

Gujarat's tourism mosaic spans Lothal's 4,500-year dockyard legacy, Rann Utsav's ethereal tent city, Gir's Asiatic lions luring nine lakh pilgrims yearly, Blue Flag Shivrajpur, and Diu's aquatic pursuits alongside Somnath and Dwarka.

Reform Express Accelerates Viksit BharatPM Modi unveiled 14 greenfield GIDC estates and Rajkot's medical devices park, animating next-wave reforms: GST enhancements aiding MSMEs, 100% FDI in insurance for universal coverage, income tax modernization after six decades, labor codification harmonizing wages and security, nuclear sector liberalization via the SHANTI Act, and data/AI/semiconductor surges.

The Reform Express hurtles unhaltingly toward institutional metamorphosis and developed-nation apotheosis by 2047.

Industrial voices echoed: Jyoti CNC's Parakramsinh Jadeja pledged ₹10,000 crore; Adani's Karan Adani, ₹1.5 lakh crore in Kutch; Welspun's B.K. Goenka lauded quake-zone gambles; Reliance's Mukesh Ambani committed ₹7 lakh crore, green energy colossi, AI data hubs, Olympic training, and Jamnagar healthcare. Rwanda's Jacqueline Mukangira and Ukraine's Oleksandr Polishchuk hailed ties, inviting synergies.

This two-day conclave, spanning 12 districts and spotlighting ceramics to culture with Japan, South Korea, Rwanda, and Ukraine as partners, decentralizes Vibrant Gujarat's legacy toward Viksit Bharat 2047, priming regional economies for the 2027 Global Summit.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar