As Vedanta-Foxconn picks Gujarat, blame game in Maharashtra

In Twitter posts, Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Resources Limited, said, “History gets made! Happy to announce that the new Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor plant will be set up in Gujarat. Vedanta’s landmark investment of ?1.54 lakh crores will help make India’s Atmanirbhar Silicon Valley a reality.”

Agarwal said the project will help the Prime Minister’s “vision of creating a robust manufacturing base in India”, and “will reduce our electronics imports & provide 1 lakh direct skilled jobs to our people”. He expressed “deep gratitude” to the Gujarat government and the Union IT Minister “who have helped Vedanta tie things up so quickly”.

The Vedanta-Foxconn MoU with Gujarat left Maharashtra officials stunned and the Opposition slammed the Eknath Shinde government over the “missed” opportunity.

Officials said capital subsidy up to 30 per cent had been offered, among other incentives, to set up the plant in the Talegaon industrial area near Pune.

According to officials involved in the negotiations, higher incentives by Gujarat could be the reason why the company was negotiating for more incentives regarding land for the project.

The JV’s decision Tuesday came within two months of what officials called “almost” finalising the plan for the plant in Maharashtra at a meeting with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Responding to questions, Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant blamed the previous government. “Why didn’t the MVA government offer a better incentive package to the company?” he asked. Samant said he had taken charge of the department recently and would look for the reason why the company chose Gujarat over Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackerey said the MVA government had brought conversations on setting up the facility in the state to the “final stage”.

He said he and Subhash Desai, who was  Minister for Industries and Mining in the MVA coalition, had held meetings to bring Vedanta and Foxconn’s semiconductor project to Maharashtra.

In a Twitter post, Thackeray accused the new dispensation in the state of “lacking commitment” to bring the plant to Maharashtra.

“For a project almost finalised, and a new dispensation claiming credit over it, only shows lack of commitment from the new dispensation for our state’s progress,” he tweeted.

Congress leader and former minister Balasaheb Thorat wondered why no one in the state had any information that the project was going to Gujarat. He wanted to know what efforts Maharashtra made to keep the project in the state.

In July, after the formation of the new government led by Shinde, officials of Vedanta and Foxconn had met Shinde and Fadnavis to discuss the setting up of the facility in the state. Talegaon was considered an ideal site for the facility.

At that time, Shinde, in a statement, said that Vedanta, along with Foxconn could play “a pivotal role as the anchor investor in creating the next Silicon Valley”.

Fadnavis had said that Maharashtra was a “natural choice” for the manufacturing plant.

Vedanta is among the five companies which have applied for the government’s Rs 76,000-crore incentive scheme for development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

It is the third company to announce a chip plant location in India after international consortium ISMC and Singapore-based IGSS Ventures, which are setting up facilities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, respectively.