From Kumbh To AI, UP Top Official Shows State's Strengths At Davos

Uttar Pradesh has a huge presence at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, where the state is looking for potential investors and reaching out to head of states and senior leaders to talk about opportunities in the Indian heartland.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, who is at Davos, told NDTV many officials and leaders at the high Alps in Switzerland "get shocked" on hearing the sheer scale of the Maha Kumbh.

"They get shocked. Like getting visitors, around 400 million within 45 days at one place, on 10,000 acres of land," Mr Singh said, referring to the elaborate arrangements the authorities have made for the best experience of tourists and devotees in UP's Prayagraj.

The top bureaucrat said UP has distinct advantages in some sectors that investors find attractive.

"It is a matter of geographic advantage which we are trying to exploit here. The companies which we met are from the food processing sector such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Company, Heineken and Carlsberg... Two-three of them have given offers for setting up plants, while some of them have given requests for expansion of their plants," Mr Kumar said.

Data Centres

Mr Kumar highlighted Noida and Greater Noida as areas where data centres are coming up in a very big way, adding they had discussions with two-three companies on this. The next meeting was held with IT companies, he said.

"We also had a meeting with President Tharman [Shanmugaratnam] of Singapore on water and how cities can be made more livable with proper water supply and sewage treatment," Mr Kumar said.

AI In Agriculture

With artificial intelligence a huge area of discussion at Davos, UP also came prepared. Mr Kumar said the state is looking to harness the power of AI to be used in agriculture.

"We have a predominance towards agriculture. I often say that in the world, where agriculture is done on 10 per cent of land, in India it is done on 45 per cent of land. And in UP, it is done on 75 per cent of the land. In the world, only 21 per cent of agriculture is done with irrigation, while for India it is 55 per cent," Mr Kumar told NDTV.

"But you won't believe, in UP this data is 86 per cent, meaning 86 per cent of UP's agriculture is irrigated agriculture. In all of these, if we want to use water efficiently, we have to depend on sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), and so AI has a very big application," he said.

Mr Kumar said UP is working on how to digitalise agriculture and help farmers.

"For AI, we have a centre of excellence in Gautam Buddha University, which was sanctioned by the Chief Minister last year with a budget of Rs 50 crore. We have MoUs with Microsoft, HCL, and Samsun, and are in talks with ETH Zurich," Mr Kumar said.

The five-day meeting at Davos that began on Monday is exploring how to relaunch growth, harness new technologies and strengthen social and economic resilience, according to the World Economic Forum. The global meeting is seeing participation by nearly 3,000 leaders from over 130 countries, including 350 governmental leaders.

India's participation at Davos aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investment, and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. India sent five Union ministers, three chief ministers, and ministers from several other states to the WEF this time.