Beginning with metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bangalore — the Industries department would hop on to other global destinations from next month, publicising Gujarat’s image as a peaceful and growth-oriented investment destination.

A note explaining the allocation in the budget says this is needed to attract industrial investment by addressing industry associations and chambers in India and abroad. Meets and road shows would be organised as a build-up to the summit to be held early next year.

This, despite the fact that the government is still struggling to convert the earlier promises into actual investments. Officials said there are instances where entrepreneurs have done a disappearing act after signing the MoU amid much fanfare over the last three summits since 2003.

The latest socio-economic review presented with the Annual Budget 2008-09 is silent on the investments out of the last year’s summit promises of a whopping Rs 4.61 lakh crore. The document presents a bleak picture of the second edition also, with the 227 MoUs worth Rs 1,06,000 crore of VG-GIS 2005 translating into a paltry Rs 12,813 crore by August 2007, while the rest are under various stages of implementation.