Magnetic Maharashtra: State govt eyes investments worth Rs 10 lakh crore

“It has increased the government’s excitement about investments. We are now aiming to sign MoUs worth Rs 10 lakh crore — investments that will generate employment for 35 lakh people in the state,” said the senior Shiv Sena leader while addressing the media Thursday. The minister said focus would be on sectors such as textiles, engineering, food processing, defence manufacturing and micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME). Around 4,000 MoUs are likely to be signed over the three-day summit. “To attract investments, we have taken around 12 policy decision over the last few days,” added Desai. Magnetic Maharashtra, the first global investor summit by the state government, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday evening. The summit will be held between February 18 and 20.

Maharashtra is targeting investments worth Rs 10 lakh crore during the summit. (Express Photo/Amit Chakravarty)

State government officials said the probable key participants from India Inc include Ajay Piramal of Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Anand Mahindra of Mahindra Group, Chanda Kochar of ICICI Bank Ltd, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance industries Ltd among others. Foreign participants include Richard Branson of Virgin Group, Cho Hyun-Joon of Hyosung group, Tonino Lamborghini of Automobili Lamborghini, Edward Monser of Emerson, Ziyavudin Magomedov of Summa group and others. Sunil Porwal, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, said the summit would tell the world about investment opportunities in the state and to learn from them how the investor-friendly environment in the state could be improved. Some key MoUs likely to be signed include those with Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd, Reliance Jio, Railways Latur Coach Factory, Hyosung Corporation, ReNew Power Ventures, Amazon, Britannia, Genus Paper, Lloyd Steel and others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event on Sunday evening (Express Photo/Amit Chakravarty)

Desai said an invitation had been extended to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray for the summit but the government was yet to receive a response on whether he would attend. Meanwhe, the police said trial was yet to begin in the case of fire at the Make in India event held in Mumbai in February 2016. The Mumbai Police had registered a case under sections 285 (Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC against Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the organisers.

Senior inspector, DB Marg police station, D Shinde said, “We filed a chargesheet against those found guilty within the stipulated time period at the metropolitan magistrate court. The trial in the case has not yet begun.”