28 January,2015 07:59 PM IST | | PTI
Maharashtra will roll out a red carpet and not indulge in red tape for investors in the state, besides letting them pick the sector of their choice to make investments, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today
Mumbai: Maharashtra will roll out "a red carpet and not indulge in red tape" for investors in the state, besides letting them pick the sector of their choice to make investments, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.
"We have a large land bank, uninterrupted power supply to industries and the state has a distinct identity. I adopted a cafeteria approach and prevailed upon potential investors to choose the sector of their choice to make investments, and the government would provide a red carpet and not indulge in red tape," Fadnavis said while addressing a press conference here.
Maharashtra was the most industrialised state of India and had 14 per cent share in the national GDP, he said. Creating agriculture value chain, Information Technology, manufacturing sector were some of the areas, where investment was expected, Fadnavis said, but declined to give the figure of investment.
"Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Industries) along with CEO MIDC would do the follow up of the discussions held," he said.
Fadnavis said, in association with the WEF the state will create a value chain with farmers regarding 14 crops other than sugarcane, where technology and seeds will be provided to farmers with the help of WEF and the farmers get assured buyers overseas.
The target this year is to ensure that 10 lakh farmers are part of the initiative, while next year the target is 25 lakh farmers, he said adding that focus would be on creating the value chains in rain-fed areas of Vidarbha and Marathwada.
Similarly, discussions about biotechnology centered around removal of suspicion about GM crop and lowering the input cost of BT cotton, he said adding that the GM crop should be harmonised with organic farming.
According to Fadnavis, Schindler Elevator has agreed to invest in the second phase at Talegoan, which will be a facility for manufacturing escalators. They evaluated multiple states, but Maharashtra ranked the highest, he said. Visy, an Australian paper manufacturing firm is keen to invest in a paper recycling plant and will be coming to Mumbai in February for the second round of discussions.
General Electric plans to invest about Rs 3,000 crore in Maharashtra, Fadnavis said adding that Toray International plans to invest in technical fibres and polyester. "We have requested them to consider Amravati and Nagpur and assured them all requisite support for integrated textile park," he added.
Hilti Group is also seriously considering investing in Maharashtra. They are happy with the infrastructure in the state but are a little concerned with the energy costs. Safran, a French multinational aircraft and rocket-engine, aerospace-component manufacturer is enter India. We have offered them land in Nagpur given the existing ecosystem in the region for this sector.
Volkswagen intends to make India and Maharashtra a global hub for manufacturing small segment cars, Chief Minister said. Diageo which has large operations in Maharashtra is looking to further expand its operations. Being a water intensive industry, we have requested them to consider water abundant locations in the state, Fadnavis added.
Nestle shared ideas on how Maharashtra can become a leading exporter of Milk to the world and also expressed keenness in investing in the state. Mitsui has expressed interest in investing in manufacturing as well as financing infrastructure projects.
JETRO has promised to facilitate investments from Japanese companies planning to enter/expand operations in India. Meetings held with companies from multiple sectors such as manufacturing, financial services, technology, food processing, he added.
