SANJEEV Gupta, CEO of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission said that the industry should create vision document for developing Vidarbha and its 11 districts to make it one of the fastest growing regions in the country. He was talking on ‘Redefining India’s Tier-2 Narrative’ by, highlighting the transformative rise of Tier-2 cities as innovation-driven growth hubs at the CIMCON’26 underway at IIM, Nagpur on Friday. He further said that Vidarbha has 75 per cent of the minerals and 80 per cent of the forest cover and is the powerhouse of Maharashtra. But is lagging behind in development and employment. Vidarbha has the potential to contribute as the largest share towards GDP of the State. He said, “The mission should be to increase the GDP of all 11 districts of Vidarbha by 1 per cent as a start for growth. Vidarbha should be marketed as a brand and it should be amplified across the country.

 

Local industry should make a strategy and execute it in planned manner. One way is to create private industrial clusters.” Gupta felt that there has to be out of the box approach of solving problems and getting things done. Local industry should take initiatives to maximise the economic potential of emerging regions like Vidarbha by enabling their organic growth and inviting investments for start-ups. He elaborated that local industry should leverage technology, ask for market access so that opportunities will come and also develop own talent pool for growth of the region. Prashant Gupta, office bearer of CIMCON’26 moderated the session.