Inaugurating the Uttarakhand Global Investors Summit on December 8, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the state a “new hub for investment”, crediting the “double engine” government’s push on tourism, connectivity and investment.

There were grand numbers that followed: 1,779 MoUs worth Rs 3.56 lakh crore. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had chased them with roadshows in London and Dubai, and in Bengaluru, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Mumbai – a courtship that cost taxpayers roughly Rs 100 crore, according to an RTI response seen by Newslaundry.

But MoUs are only promises, so Newslaundry asked what had actually materialised. The Directorate of Industries initially declined to share the full list of MoU signatories, arguing that other states might poach them. It did, however, share a list of “grounded” projects: around 3,300 entities accounting for Rs 1 lakh crore. “Grounding,” in the government’s telling, means the money has begun to flow – and it is the same Rs 1 lakh crore the Dhami government held up in 2025 as proof the summit was delivering.

Though here is a catch. A global investors’ summit conjures images of multinationals and marquee conglomerates queuing up to write cheques. When we set out to trace who Uttarakhand’s “investors” actually were, we found state-owned power companies that account for more than a third of the headline figure. There were flour mills, fertiliser shops and small clinics; some of them had no idea they had been counted.

This Newslaundry report is not an audit of all 3,300-odd entries on the grounding list or the full Rs 1 lakh crore figure. What it does show is that in some instances, the label “grounded investment” had been stretched to cover businesses that never knew they were listed, projects that never broke ground, and government spending recast as private capital.

Inclusion on the list does not mean no actual spending took place – PSU-linked projects, for instance, do represent real government expenditure, even if not the kind a government would usually count as investment.

A notification that changed the definition

Naveen Kumar, a resident of Dhadheki Dhana village in Haridwar district, is a farmer. He also runs a small flour mill to supplement his income. Neeraj Kumar, from the nearby village of Mathana (about three kilometres away), also owns a flour mill.

Both were astonished when Newslaundry showed them an official document from the Uttarakhand Department of Industries. The document was the ‘grounding list’ for the 2023 Global Investors Summit, which listed both Naveen and Neeraj as investors. According to the list, each had invested Rs 2 lakh. 

Naveen states he has no knowledge of the summit whatsoever. Neeraj had seen reports about the summit in newspapers.

It is not just Naveen and Neeraj’s flour mills that appear on this list; the names of over three dozen flour mills from various districts of Uttarakhand are included. The list also records hundreds of fertiliser and seed outlets, as well as small clinics.

When asked about listing flour mills, fertiliser and seed shops, and small clinics as investors in the grounded list, Shikhar Saxena, Additional Director of the Department of Industries, told this reporter, during an in-person meeting at the SIIDCUL building in Dehradun’s IT Park in May, that their share in the Rs 1 lakh crore worth of grounded investments was quite small. “However, we have included these small investors in our list of grounded projects to acknowledge their contribution,” he added.

But there are several other cases that raise significant questions.

Of the top 10 grounded investments by value, eight are tied to PSUs. These include three linked to UJVNL (wholly state-owned) and four to a UJVNL-THDCIL joint venture (THDCIL is centrally owned). Both UJVNL and THDCIL are hydroelectric power-generation companies.  

A UJVNL official told Newslaundry that the government itself assigns work to these PSUs, funds up to 30 percent of project costs, and then buys their output. Of the Rs 1 lakh crore in grounded investments, Rs 35,279 crore – 35 percent – is linked to UJVNL and THDCIL alone.

The eighth included a Rs 2,000 crore ‘Golf City’ in Haridwar being developed by SIIDCUL – the Uttarakhand government enterprise developing industry and infrastructure in the state.

Subhash Chandra Garg, former Union finance secretary, told Newslaundry that the purpose of an investor summit is to attract private capital – the government doesn’t need one to assign work to its own PSUs. 

Regarding the inclusion of government PSUs in the grounding list, Saxena remarked, “We also factor in the projects undertaken by government institutions under ‘grounding’ because they generate employment and bring capital into the state.”

Importantly, a notification passed days before the summit, on December 1, 2023, had changed the parameters that define the term “grounded investment”. In a notification that relaxed the criteria for a project to be counted as grounded, the government said a “project which has to be allotted by the government shall be considered grounded upon issuance of letter of allotment from the competent authority”.

If not this, the notification asked any two of four other criteria to be met. These were land purchased, allotted or leased; all necessary licences granted; construction work started; or orders for plant and machinery placed.

Other curious investments

A Dehradun special-needs school run by the Latika Roy Foundation was shown as a Rs 24.49 crore “investor”. Saxena said the figure possibly came from a building permit filing; the school has run solely on CSR funds and donations for 30 years. 

When asked why an NGO constructing its building using CSR funds was included in the grounding list, Saxena said, “Uttarakhand has a robust law and order situation and offers excellent facilities. Companies invest their CSR funds here precisely because of these factors; therefore, this should be considered an achievement for the state.”

Sood Agro Limited was recorded as investing Rs 562 crore in a seed production project in Udham Singh Nagar. Owner Sanjay Sood said only around Rs 4 crore was actually spent, and he had no idea where the larger figure came from.

Some projects listed as grounded never took off at all. 

For example, DSK Foods was shown to have invested Rs 233 crore in a facility in Kashipur, but the company never began operations, and SIIDCUL has recommended cancelling its land allotment due to unpaid dues. 

ACME Cleantech Solutions, among the top 10 investors with a claimed Rs 2,452 crore, has a site in Rudrapur. But when Newslaundry visited, the site was found shut, with only a couple of guards present. Government officials cited an unresolved electricity connection for the stalled project.

Malik Timber’s listed investment of Rs 11 lakh in Haridwar never materialised due to a lack of environmental clearance.

Most strikingly, Buldenz Industries Private Limited was shown to have invested Rs 1,200 crore in Haridwar. Yet, its revenue from operations was zero from 2021-22 to 2024-25, and Ministry of Corporate Affairs records show it had no employees. 

In an email dated May 14, 2026, Saxena acknowledged his in-person meeting with this reporter, where some queries were addressed. He added that the remaining points involved sourcing data from multiple third-party sources, including MoUs, company filings, project verifications, and inputs from other government departments and PSUs.  “Compiling accurate, verified responses requires coordination with the Directorate of Industries, SIIDCUL records, and external stakeholders to ensure factual precision,” he stated, seeking “15-20 days to gather and verify this information comprehensively”. A full response to those queries had not been received at the time of publishing this report. It will be incorporated in this report once received.

Many mega MoUs had featured in media reports, but could not make it to the grounding list. Watch the video for all the details. 

This report is part of an investigative series. Its previous installment from Uttar Pradesh found MoUs worth Rs 1.65 lakh crore signed with a group that has no traceable corporate record. Subscribe to help us track similar investment claims in other states. 

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