Gautam Adani also said Uttar Pradesh is being viewed as the fastest changing state.

Adani Group will invest Rs 5,500 crore over the next five years in power transmission and food processing sectors in Uttar Pradesh, its chairman Gautam Adani said on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion of the second ground breaking ceremony that will see the launch of multiple projects by corporates, Mr Adani said he had announced his investment plans during UP investors' summit in February 2018 and the work on two power transmission projects has already started. Under the food processing segment, rice and flour mills, kachchi ghani refining facility will be set up in the state, he said.

"In the next five years, the group is planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore in power transmission and another Rs 500 crore in food processing sector," Mr Adani said.

Talking about his plans to focus also on other areas such as data centre and defence, he said that going by the size, population and strategic location and demographic dividend of the state, Uttar Pradesh can emerge as a leader in these sectors as well.

"...our presence in the defence sector is very important for us. It is my dream that Adani Group sets up world-class defence manufacturing hub in the defence corridor in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Saying that his group has set up units having the capacity of 15,000 metric tonne in Kannauj for improving the foodgrain storage capacity in the state, he said it was already working on developing multi modal river terminal in Varanasi for enhancing the waterways.

Underlining that the development story of the country is incomplete without Uttar Pradesh, Mr Adani said the state is being viewed as the fastest changing and it will play an important role in reaching the target set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of $5 trillion economy by 2024.