Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said Uttar Pradesh would host one of the two defence industrial corridors his government had announced in its budget proposals, calling it a landmark in the development of the state's poor Bundelkhand region.

"I want to announce today that one of the defence industrial corridors would be between Agra-Aligarh, Lucknow-Kanpur-Jhansi-Chitrakoot," Modi said in the Uttar Pradesh capital after inaugurating a two-day investors' summit at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan.

The landmark change ( bara parivartan), he added, would invite investments of around Rs 20,000 crore and create 2.5 lakh jobs.

In his February 1 budget speech, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had said two defence industrial production corridors would be developed in the country.

Early this month, the government had announced the first corridor between Chennai and Bengaluru, which would also pass through Coimbatore and several other industrial clusters.

In Lucknow on Wednesday, Modi indirectly targeted previous governments, saying there was a sense of insecurity in Uttar Pradesh in the past and investors were apprehensive of starting ventures because of poor law and order.

"Now, the changes can easily be visible. The attendance of a large number of industrialists in the summit is a proof of change.... The people of the state know very well why it didn't happen before. There was a sense of fear and insecurity, and life was difficult," he said.

"But the Yogi Adityanath government has pulled the state out of negativity to positivity. It has laid the foundation for a magnificent UP."

Among the industrialists and business captains present at the summit were Reliance Industries boss Mukesh Ambani; Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, and Gautam Adani, CMD of the Adani Group.

Anerood Jugnauth, former President and Prime Minister of Mauritius and now defence minister, was also present.

For the record, three similar summits had been organised when the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party was in power. Most heads of industries in India had promised huge investments in the state but nothing remarkable has happened yet in terms of creating jobs or infrastructure.

Modi made a passing reference to the state's politico-religious history, saying if there is the Taj Mahal, then there are also Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. If Ram is associated with Uttar Pradesh, then Krishna was also there, he added but didn't elaborate.

The Prime Minister launched a single-window system for those interested in investing in the state.

Chief minister Adityanath has said his government has decided to give land for industries at a discount of 30 per cent if the ventures are started in the state. "We are exploring possibilities of attracting investments in the areas of agro-food processing, dairy, textile, information technology, electronics manufacturing, tourism, civil aviation and renewable energy," he said.

Ambani said the Ganga is the "mother of all of us" and expressed his wish to be part of the Centre's Namami Gange conservation and rejuvenation scheme for the holy river.

"The Reliance Foundation is ready to play the part assigned to it under Namami Gange," Ambani said.

"We will together fulfil the dream of the PM to make UP the (country's) best state," Ambani said, adding that while Reliance subsidiary Jio has already invested Rs 20,000 crore in the state, he would invest another Rs 10,000 crore over the next three months.

"We are the largest private sector investor in UP," Birla told the summit, claiming his company employed 40,000 people in the state.

His company, he added, would invest Rs 25,000 crore in the state over the next five years.