'Welcome', a one word SMS from the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to the then Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata led to shifting the Tata Nano project from West Bengal to Gujarat way back in 2008.
Modi had sent the SMS to Tata when the industrialist was addressing a press conference in Kolkata announcing the exit of Tata Nano project from West Bengal after violent protests led by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
"When Ratan Tata said in a press conference in Kolkata that they are leaving West Bengal, I sent him a short SMS saying 'welcome'. And now you can see what a Re 1 (worth) SMS can do," Modi had said inaugurating the Tata Nano plant at Sanand in 2010 built at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore.
Tata had announced the exit of the Nano project from West Bengal on October 3, 2008 and declared that the plant would be set up at Sanand in Gujarat within the next four days.
Modi had then said many countries were keen to offer all help for the Nano project, but the Gujarat government officers ensured that the project did not go out of India. -- PTI