Davos/Mumbai, Jan 17
Getting into the business mode in Davos, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his team inked MoUs worth around Rs 45,900 crore for various projects with a potential to create around 10,000 direct jobs, an official from the delegation said here on Tuesday.
Industry Minister Uday Samant, who is part of the CM entourage, said that on the first day on Monday (January 16), the state government has signed the agreements with several major global conglomerates and investors.
Present at the ceremonies were top officials like Harshdeep Kamble, Vipin Sharma. T. Krishna, Shreya Eren, Ashish Nawade and others.
The investments include Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Orenda India (Rs 16,000 cr), ICP Investments/Indus Capitals (Rs 16,000 cr), Greenko Energy Projects Pvt. Ltd. of Telangana (Rs 12,000 cr), Nipro Pharma Packaging India Pvt. Ltd. of Pune (Rs 1,650 cr) and Rukhi Agro Foods of Thane (Rs 250 cr).
The Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said that if all these investments are indeed coming then that is good for the state.
"However, let's wait till the investments actually come and jobs are really created before we can comment," said a skeptical Raut, who had yesterday urged Shinde to visit Gujarat and get back projects of Maharashtra which had shifted there in 2022.
Setting the state on an ambitious journey of a USD One Trillion economy, Shinde is all set to sign a total of 21 MoUs worth Rs 1.40 lakh-crore, intended to create over 66,500 jobs in the next five years.
Besides the agreements signed on Monday, more MoUs are scheduled with major global conglomerates and investors in greenfield projects like data centres, pharmaceuticals, logistics, chemicals, automobiles, electric vehicles, renewable energy and ESDM during Shinde's ongoing visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
He showcased the progressive policy reforms of the government, making the state a part of the global conversation, to reiterate to political leaders and global investors why Maharashtra is a premier investment destination.
Maharashtra has signed the prestigious three-year Platform Partnership with the WEF, a commercial contract for continuous engagements on subjects of strategic importance to the state.
The subjects focus on Shaping the Future of Urban Transformation - smart and connected cities, urban resilience, governance, infrastructure & services and resource management, and New Economies and Societies, focusing on entrepreneurship, education & skills, economic growth and job creation, said Shinde.
In the next couple of days, Shinde will present Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly outlook to key political and government representatives from Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, among others.
Among the most industrialised states in India, Maharashtra contributes 15 percent to the national GDP and 16 percent of the country's industrial output.
The services sector accounts for much of the state economy, upto 62 per cent of the state GDP, followed by the manufacturing sector which contributes 20 per cent through major industries including automobiles, engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing and IT/ITeS.
