Bharuch, June 16 (IANS) Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday urged Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (GNFC) to expand its current project portfolio from around Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore by 2047, positioning the state-run company as a key contributor to India’s goal of becoming a developed and self-reliant nation.

Speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of GNFC at Narmada Nagar in Bharuch district, Patel said the company’s five-decade journey reflected its contribution to Gujarat’s industrial growth, agricultural development and the wider national objective of self-reliance.

“GNFC’s five decades of success represent a unique saga of contribution towards Gujarat’s development, farmers’ prosperity and a self-reliant India,” Patel said.

He called on the company to implement its long-term roadmap in line with the vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047” and substantially scale up its investment plans over the coming decades.

The Chief Minister said the Gujarat government had also prepared a “Viksit Gujarat 2047” roadmap aimed at balanced and comprehensive development across six regions of the state through a long-term strategy.

Linking GNFC’s golden jubilee with the completion of 12 years of governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patel said: “India had advanced rapidly towards becoming the world’s third-largest economy during the period.”

He credited public sector undertakings (PSUs) with playing an important role in that progress and said that “PM Modi had made PSUs more efficient, transparent, competitive and profitable through a professional approach”.

Patel noted that GNFC had been established to support agricultural productivity through the supply of quality fertilisers while contributing to self-reliance in the chemicals sector and promoting environmental sustainability alongside socio-economic development.

He also highlighted the company’s ‘Neem Project’, under which neem seed oil is used for coating urea and for the production of organic products.

The Chief Minister said the initiative had engaged rural women’s self-help groups in neem seed collection activities, helping economically empower more than 4.50 lakh women.

He also congratulated the company for launching the “50 Viksit Villages – Vision 2047” initiative, aimed at the holistic development of 50 villages in Bharuch district.

As part of the celebrations, Patel inaugurated the Namo Vadvan Miyawaki Forest and Oxygen Park at the Narmada Nagar township, opened the Community Science Centre and released a coffee-table book documenting GNFC’s 50-year history.

GNFC Chairman and Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Das recalled visiting the company during a Gujarat Darshan tour shortly after his appointment as a civil servant in the state in 1991.

Reflecting on the company’s growth, he said: “GNFC had surpassed the expectations of its early vision and evolved into a significantly larger enterprise.”

Das attributed the company’s achievements to its approximately 2.73 lakh shareholders, employees, officers, suppliers and workers who had contributed to its development over the past five decades.

Outlining the company’s future plans, he said: “All state government companies had adopted the ‘Vision 2047’ document, and GNFC currently has projects worth around Rs 7,000 crore under implementation. The company would pursue a strategy of ‘Consolidate, Expand and Diversify’ to align itself with emerging global trends.”

Das also said GNFC had spent around Rs 200 crore on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in education, healthcare and nutrition.

As part of its contribution to the Viksit Bharat mission, the company plans to adopt around 50 villages in Bharuch district and support their development into model villages.

Referring to Gujarat’s new industrial policy, he noted that “incentives ranging from 25 to 30 per cent announced by the state government would improve the viability of GNFC’s projects and help advance progress towards its long-term targets”.

–IANS

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