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Make in Maharashtra: Devendra Fadnavis invited foreign investors at World Economic Forum

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis may have made a high-profile visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, but officials who were part of his delegation admit that foreign players continue to have apprehensions regarding investing in state.

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Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis may have made a high-profile visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, but officials who were part of his delegation admit that foreign players continue to have apprehensions regarding investing in state.

"They expect consistent policies, transparency and a level-playing field… (Otherwise) foreign investors are hesitant to invest," said an official on condition of anonymity, adding that "bureaucratic red-tapism needs to be corrected".

The official, however, claimed that the state had taken pro-active steps to reduce the number of permissions needed and time taken for consents to come through to facilitate investments. He added that factors like a good work culture, availability of trained, English-speaking manpower, and strong infrastructure, were among Maharashtra's plus points.

The state government has also reduced time taken for granting construction approvals and power connections and as part of the 'Make in Maharashtra' campaign, is planning labour reforms to boost manufacturing, which in turn, has a massive job creation potential, the official pointed out.

According to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra for 2013-14, from August 1991 to October 2013, 18,406 proposals with Rs 10,21,633 crore investment were approved. Of these, 7,812 projects (42.4%) with an investment of Rs 1,82,273 crore (17.8%) were commissioned, generating 9.61 lakh employment.

Since August 1991 to March 2012, 4,246 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects (of 20,643 in India) worth Rs 97,799 crore were approved (against Rs 4,25,811 crore at the all-India level), of which 45% were commissioned and 10% are under execution with an investment share of 51% and 8% respectively. The IT industry leads approved FDI projects followed by financial services, hotel and tourism and business management consultancy.

"Maharashtra is one of the most favoured investment destinations," noted the bureaucrat, adding that a good work culture, a skilled workforce which is technologically qualified and proficient in English (a requisite for IT and BPO sectors) and good physical infrastructure were advantages. The state has the highest number of universities and deemed universities in India.

"The chief minister assured investors that land, water and power would be made available to them. We plan to introduce ease of business by reducing permissions from the present 76 to just 25 and also lowering the time taken for these approvals," he said, adding that Fadnavis had held around 30 bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the forum where he met representatives from various corporate giants.

This led to GE announcing its plan to invest Rs 3,000 crore in Maharashtra and Schindler said it would invest in the expansion of its facility at Talegaon near Pune. A Japanese investment park has been planned at Supa, near Ahmednagar.

However, the official added that foreign investors had flagged points like red-tapism, lack of transparency, need for consistent policies and a level playing field.

"However, the chief minister assured them of ease in doing business," he added, noting that the state wanted to encourage investment in backward regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada. However, the IT sector would scout for locations around urban centres due to availability of trained manpower.

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is also mooting a single-window clearance. The state is also working on labour reforms to spur the labour intensive manufacturing sector considering Fadnavis' focus on employment generation.

Maharashtra has around 280 industrial estates and announced its first industrial policy in 1993. This policy was revised from time to time and the present policy, which was announced in 2013, will be valid till March 2018.

 

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