WEF At Davos Attracts Tillman Global Holdings, Climate AI, Deloitte And Other Companies For Potential Investments In UP
Lucknow/Davos, January 17 (TNA) On the third day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the Uttar Pradesh delegation initiated discussions with Jacob Aarup-Andersen, CEO of the Carlsberg Group and Michel Doukeris, Chief Executive Officer of Budweiser. The multinational brewers, known for their global presence and strong local brands, have a significant footprint in India, reaffirming their strategic commitment to the country.
The UP delegation, led by Infrastructure & Industrial Development Commissioner, Manoj Kumar Singh, explored potential investments by these companies in the state. Emphasizing the growing demand, Singh suggested opportunities for both the companies to diversify their brand portfolios and introduce new products tailored to local preferences.
The delegation also met Nivedita Krishnamurthy Bhagat, Chief Financial Officer of Cap Gemini and Nikhil Rathi, Director & CEO, Web Werks and spoke on the potential of investments in Uttar Pradesh. While Cap Gemini is a multinational corporation providing consulting, technology, professional, and outsourcing services to various industries including financial services, retail, telecom, Web Werks is a global provider of data centre solutions, offering dedicated server hosting, VPS hosting, and cutting edge cloud services.
The spotlight event held at the Promenade 49, Uttar Pradesh Pavilion titled ‘Opportunities in Uttar Pradesh for Digital Infrastructure & Innovations in Agriculture & Food Processing’ saw the presence of Stephen Kehoe, Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer & Chairman of Board of Directors, Pepsico Foundation, Fernanda Lopes Larsen, Executive Vice President, Africa & Asia, Yara International and Gabriela Burian, Global Director, Bayer Crop Science.
The government has successfully achieved its goal of establishing over 10,000 startups, 62 incubators, and three Centers of Excellence by 2023, spread across all 75 districts. Singh welcomed companies to invest in sectors such as Agri-tech, AI, drones, med tech, blockchain, telecommunications, quantum computing, additive manufacturing, data centres and space tech.
Apart from this, the UP delegation also met Yusuff Ali, chairman & MD of the Lulu Group and discussed the progress of the group’s various projects in the state, including status of the food park that is soon to open in Greater Noida as well as the progress of the Lulu Hypermarket & Mall that are set to open in Prayagraj & Ayodhya.
Additionally, the Government of Uttar Pradesh organized a spotlight event titled ‘Unlocking the Potential: Nurturing Financial Literacy and Inclusion for Women in Uttar Pradesh.’ The event featured keynote speaker Smt. Smriti Irani, Hon'ble Union Minister for Women & Child Development, ICDS, Government of India, along with notable speakers including Manoj Kumar Singh, Vartika Shukla from Engineers’ India Limited, and Seema Chaturvedi, founder & chair of AWE Foundation.
Earlier, on the second day of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, the high-level delegation from Uttar Pradesh led by Infrastructure & Industrial Development Commissioner engaged in discussion with Sanjiv Ahuja, Chairman of Tillman Global Holdings as well as officials of Climate Ai. The focus was on exploring significant investment opportunities in the state, especially in startups, innovations, artificial intelligence, data centres and climate change.
Evincing interest in Uttar Pradesh’s dynamic landscape, Tillman Global Holdings (TGH), led by Sanjiv Ahuja, an international investment firm with a focus on telecommunications, infrastructure, technology, and media sectors, showed interest in investing in setting up electric vehicles (EV) charging infrastructure and data centres in Uttar Pradesh.
Climate Ai, too, expressed enthusiasm for investing in the state. Climate Ai, a tech-driven startup based in San Francisco, specializes in predictive climate modelling and forecasting, utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced machine learning to mitigate the impact of climate change in the agriculture sector.
The delegation also had a fruitful meeting with Romal Shetty, CEO Deloitte India, who announced the opening of an office at Noida with seating capacity for 2000 employees within two months while another office at Lucknow within six months.
Stating that Uttar Pradesh has vast possibilities and that it ranks in the ‘Leaders’ category in the States’ Startup Ranking in India, Manoj Kumar Singh said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state prioritizes on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at the grassroot level and incorporating emerging technologies in niche sectors. Currently, Uttar Pradesh is home to many unicorns and soonicorns in the country, including Paytm, Paytm Mall, India Mart, Moglix, Pine Labs, Innovaccer, InfoEdge, Inshorts, Classplus and Physics Wallah.
Highlighting the state government’s vision of establishing a world-class startup ecosystem, the Infrastructure & Industrial Commissioner said that with a robust infrastructure and favourable policy environment, Uttar Pradesh encourages startups to establish themselves in the state.