Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeev said the state plans to sign expressions of undertaking (EOUs) worth over $14 billion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 in Davos, with a strong focus on knowledge-based, future-ready industries.
Speaking on the sidelines of the global summit, Rajeev said Kerala engaged with more than 60 investors and potential investors, marking a strategic shift from earlier editions of the forum.
“We met more than 60 investors, potential investors. Last time we didn’t focus on EOUs, LOUs or MOUs. That time, we tried our best to showcase the potential of the State of Kerala. This time, we are focusing on EOUs. We could sign more than 14 billion US dollar EOUs proposals,” the minister said.
He said most proposals are in high-growth sectors such as renewable energy, artificial intelligence, data centres, medical devices, electronics manufacturing and wellness services.
“Most of them belong to renewable energy and AI, data centre, medical device, electronics industry and also wellness centre, all knowledge-based industries. We are engaging offices for each and every EOUs, and I think we could materialise most of them into reality,” Rajeev said.
Highlighting Kerala’s ambition to emerge as a major hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs), the minister said the state’s skilled workforce gives it a competitive edge.
“GCC, the Global Capability Centre, is one of the emerging sectors, and India is one of the destinations. And Kerala should definitely be the major destination of GCC, because the major requirement is a highly skilled, talented pool. Our strength is highly skilled human resources,” he said.
Rajeev said the state has signed an EOU to establish two GCC cities in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
“We have signed one EOUs to establish two GCC cities in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. We are now trying to develop a global city in Kochi, and we have a very good techno park in Thiruvananthapuram,” he said.
Calling the proposal significant, Rajeev said it comes from one of the world’s largest GCC service providers and is expected to attract major multinational companies to set up operations in Kerala.
“I think most of the big companies will utilise this opportunity to establish their GCC in the state of Kerala,” he said.
The minister also highlighted Kerala’s investor-friendly environment, saying that while other states may offer more land, Kerala provides a readily available talent pool, transparency and no hidden costs.
On the implementation of MoUs signed at global summits, Rajeev said Kerala has achieved a higher-than-average conversion rate.
“Most of them we are trying to materialise. Normally, in India, as per several media reports, the conversion rate for MoUs signed at global summits is 10 to 15%. Within 10 months, we could convert 24% into the construction stage. Within two months, I hope 50% should be converted to the construction stage. Some MoUs are not easy to materialise because they are not suitable for the state of Kerala. But most of them we could convert to the construction and industrial stage. This time also, I hope that most of them, we could not find time to go through the potential of each and every company with which we have signed an EOU here,” he said.
He added that while some proposals may not suit Kerala’s conditions, most can be converted into operational projects.
“This is only a beginning. We will go through all the data regarding those companies. One officer is working on that. Thereafter, the next step we will take will be signing the MoUs. Thereafter, I think most of the MoUs we could convert to reality,” Rajeev said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Mainstream staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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