The UP investors’ summit has received an overwhelming response. On the opening day, Wednesday, 1,045 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 4.28 trillion were signed at the summit – and as it closes today the figure is only going to go up.

With big-ticket investments from Adani to Birla and Reliance Jio to Hinduja, the state hopes to shed its ‘Bimaru’ tag. Investment proposals have been made across various sectors like energy, logistics, solar power, roads and agriculture.

Top investment proposals at the UP Summit
Adani Group: Rs 35,000 crore
Adita Birla Group: Rs 25,000 crore
Essel: Rs 18,000 crore
Reliance Jio: Rs 10,000 crore

The summit, a first by the Yogi Adityanath government, is on the lines of state investor conferences, like Vibrant Gujarat, Magnetic Maharashtra, Sunrise Andhra Pradesh and so on. Gujarat and Maharashtra have attracted huge investment proposals at their investor events.

However, quite often, such investment events make big headlines and little happens after that. The reality of massively promoted and hyped summits tells a sad story. Though the events promise impressive numbers in terms of investments, the materialisation of these projects on the ground remains dismal.

For example, Vibrant Gujarat, held every other year since 2003, has always made news for attracting MoUs running into astronomical amounts, but the actual investment flow is estimated to be around five percent of the promised.

Only time will tell whether the impressive numbers promised at the UP investor summit will translate into reality and script a new history for the state.