Maharashtra sets up council to promote investments

Maharashtra government has formed a 12 member Investment Promotion Council chaired by state chief minister and minister of industries as its working president to work as a nodal agency to attract domestic and foreign direct investments, organise summits, exhibitions, trade fairs and roadshows in several countries. The surge in investment, the government believes, will help achieve the $1 trillion economy target by 2025 from the present level of $475 billion.

The IPC has a mandate to decide policy taking into account the national and international trends, make available forum for business enterprises, economists and experts to advice the government, fix policy for aggressive marketing of 'Magnetic Maharashtra' brand and develop bilateral relations with industrially developed countries to promote foreign direct investment.

The decision to establish IPC was as per the state's new industrial policy which was announced in March this year. The new industrial policy has set an ambitious target of attracting an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore with the creation of 40 lakh new jobs. The government has issued a notification on August 23 on the formation of IPC.

State industries minister Subhash Desai told DNA, "Maharashtra has been a premier state and most favoured investment destination. IPC is a platform established to further attract domestic and foreign direct investments in the state.''