Following the loss of five major contracts, CM Shinde will head a large delegation to the WEF meeting in Davos

Chief Minister Mr. Eknath Shinde will lead an approximately 20-member delegation to the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos from January 16 to 19 to promote Maharashtra's leadership in luring domestic and reign direct investments after cutting a sorry figure following the flight of at least five major projects, including the $20 billion Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor project and Rs 22 crore Tata Airbus defence plane production project to Gujarat and other states.

 

Using the forum, Mr. Shinde will outline the state government's investor-friendly approach and extend an invitation to foreign investors to make investments in the state. The Shinde-led team will discuss other topics and have one-on-one meetings with investors from the following industries: infrastructure, start-ups, fintech, textiles, agribusiness, electric vehicles, IT and ITeS, logistics, and defence. Additionally, the government suggests that on the sidelines of the WEF gathering, it will sign an MOU with the investors.

 

There will be a separate Maharashtra pavilion made up to play up "Magnetic Maharashtra" audaciously. "The upcoming WEF conference is quite an important event for the State Government to reach out to the global investors and explain to them the government's resolve to provide an investor-friendly environment without any policy and regulatory disruptions," a Senior Industry Department Officer told the Free Press Journal. An investor will receive single-window clearance from the government.

 

The government will introduce an IT policy in addition to a number of other regulations, such as those pertaining to start-ups and logistics. He claimed that the government had just changed the incentive package plan to ensure that investors would receive additional rewards. Even though the state has lost five projects to other states, another officer claimed that the state still has enough strength to draw in new investments. The state has received investment proposals totaling around Rs 1 lakh crore since the new administration assumed office.

 

Maharashtra has received 29.4% more FDI overall during the past 22 years than any other state. The state's cumulative FDI is over 3.7 times more than Gujarat's and 2.2 times higher than Karnataka's. Maharashtra is well-positioned to draw a higher share of greenfield FDI in the future given the distribution of FDI, the size of the GDP, and the prevalence of important investment drivers there, including talent and skill, law and order, and connectivity," he said.

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @AdimulamSweety