Mumbai, Jan 17, 2025, IANS

Mumbai, Jan 17 (IANS) The Mahayuti government is betting big on project 'Magnetic Maharashtra' and the state’s preeminence in attracting both domestic and foreign direct investments (FDI) during the upcoming World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual summit at Davos during January 20 and 24. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading a 20-member delegation comprising Industry Minister Uday Samant and senior bureaucrats. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) are expected to sign MoUs worth over Rs 7 lakh crore. The proposed investment will be in high-end technologies, solar modules, semiconductors, green hydrogen and ammonia, agriculture processing, hotel and hospitality, education, health care, data centres and Artificial Intelligence. The state government sources said, "The government is exploring opportunities in new age technologies, including global capability centres also, at good capital investment in infrastructure and areas hitherto untouched. Every attempt is being made to pitch Maharashtra as the model preferred destination for domestic and foreign direct investments.” Sources said the government would soon release the New Industrial Policy, Gems and Jewellery Policy, Electronic Policy, Defence and Aero Space Policy and Artificial Intelligence Policy. Sources also said that during the WEF meeting held in January 2023, the state government had inked MoUs for investment proposals with Rs 1.40 lakh crore with 19 companies across sectors like infrastructure, information technology, steel, agriculture and food processing. Further, in January 2024, the government signed MoUs worth Rs 3.53 lakh crore. The sources reiterated that during the coming summit, the MoUs for investment proposals of Rs 7 lakh crore will be inked which will be higher than what the government attracted in 2023 and 2024. Sources said that Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the two states in the country with the highest conversion rate of MoUs. This time we have raised the bar and plan to achieve an 80 to 85 per cent conversion rate. The Maharashtra government has also set a deadline of March 31 to execute the maximum number of MoUs. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had recently said that Maharashtra continues to remain top among other states in attracting FDI while maintaining its pre-eminence. Maharashtra has attracted FDI worth Rs 1,13,236 crore during April-September in the fiscal 2024-25 outpacing other competing states like Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal. “In just six months, a total of Rs 1,13,236 crore of foreign investment has been made in Maharashtra. If we look at the average of the last four 4 years, an annual investment of Rs 1,19,556 crore has come to Maharashtra. This means that 94.71 per cent of the investment of the entire year has come in just six months,’’ said CM Fadnavis. He further added, "In 2020-21, Maharashtra has attracted FDI worth Rs 1,19,734 crore; Rs 1,14,964 crore in 2021-22; Rs 1,18,422 crore in 2022-23, in Rs 1,25,101 crore 2023-24 and in 2024-25 (six months from April to September) Rs 1,13,236 crore.