Maharashtra pitches for Belgium investments

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis hss made a strong pitch for Belgian investments into Maharashtra as it seeks to take advantage of the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU).

Speaking to a room full of businessmen from Belgium and India Fadnavis said that Belgian companies looking to invest into India can look at Maharashtra as the base.

"The $4.2 billion of FDI from Belgium into India since 2000 is too low for the size of the country. If Belgian companies can look at India, they should look at Maharashtra as a base to sell to the world. Let Maharashtra become the demonstrative state for India-EU partnership," Fadnavis said.


He said that as chief minister of the state he is willing to nominate a team to help investments into the state. "Tell us what you need and we will work with you to make it happen," he said listing six industries for collaboration namely, advanced manufacturing, semi conductor, clean energy, pharma & biotech, ports and diamond.

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The Indian-EU trade deal signed in January this year envisages the doubling of trade between the two blocks by 2032 from current $140 billion. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that the agreement is likely to be effective in the January-March quarter next year.

"This is a complementary agreement because the EU has trade, capital and an agreging population while India has a large base of qualified, hardworking 1.4 billion people," he said.

Goyal also pitched for Maharahtra as his janmabhoomi and karmabhoomi.

"Maharashtra is a very inviting place for business, our financial and commercial capital, our industrial capital. The fastest growing economy in the country. Since, of course, Devendraji and I both are from Maharashtra, there could be a little tinge of favouritism here....but I do represent all of India," Goyal said.

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Belgium prime minister Bart De Wever said the India-EU FTA could be the foundation where so much can be built on and called for looking at zero tarriffs.

"The agreement means that tariffs on more than 95% of Indian and European goods export will be scrapped or reduced.

And if I have anything to say about it, (I would say let it be) scrapped zero, let's go to zero percent, certainly for diamonds. More than 95% of the goods, textiles, clothing, footwear, machinery, automotive components, that's all container cargo. Where better to land it, in Belgium, than in the port of Antwerp? A country that exports the equivalent of four-fifths of its gross domestic product every year and stands among the most trade-intensive nations on earth," Wever said.