Maharashtra empowers districts to attract private capital in $1 trillion economy push

Maharashtra has rolled out a radical ploy to boost growth and investment in the state as the state plans to become a $1 Trillion dollar economy by 2028. The state has now unveiled a ‘District Strategic’ plan that seeks to boost growth in districts by boosting private capital for new and emerging sectors. In a radical shift, the Maharashtra government has now tasked District Collectors to help get private capital for new and emerging businesses to help entrepreneurs and boost employment. The state has prepared an action plan where it has now given targets to each district DC’s to boost growth and to which sectors to focus on.

In a meeting helmed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis a fortnight back with Divisional Commissioners and District Collectors, the Chief Minister laid out targets and goalposts for District collectors to attain in the next five years. For instance, Nashik has been given a growth rate of 12 percent and has been asked to focus on tourism as well as logistical hub whereas Jalgaon has been given a target of 17 per cent and has been asked to focus on Agro and food processing industries.

Among the many things discussed was the state government also asking District collectors to resolve issues of existing industrial units and businesses and to ensure that businesses involved in exports are not inconvenienced. For instance, many businesses and industrial units located in the hinterland have complained that there are no proper roads from their businesses to the highway, others have complained of irregular power supply that damages their machinery due to voltage fluctuations.


Keen to resolve issues, Fadnavis has now asked the District Collectors to use 25 percent of District Planning Development Committee Funds (DPDC) to be used to provide infrastructure to existing industries and units to resolve issues, from buying new transformers to ensure uninterrupted power supply to laying roads to provide last mile connectivity, building warehousing in villages so that farmers can store their produce.

A District Collector said that the biggest take away from the meeting was that the state had asked them to create new entrepreneurs by arranging for private capital. “The 25 percent of DPDC funds to resolve issues will benefit industries who have complained of lack of infrastructure. The two big things coming out of the meeting is the state pushing for DCs to encourage private capital for investments in the state as well as a push to boost tourism.”said the District Collector.

Another state government official said that the ideas are radical. “Usually the Industries department and MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) are the ones supposed to be hand holding industries and businesses, now District Collectors have been made responsible as well as empowered to take decisions. They are the ones to get capital for new entrepreneurs. It is quite forward looking, “said another official. MITRA has roped in advisory firm KPMG to help District collectors achieve their targets and to identify and remove bottlenecks for growth.

Keen to show that it's serious, the state is also looking to hire a private capital mobilisation expert as well as tourism expert who would be working under each Divisional Commissioner to boost tourism in districts according to a senior state government official.

Among the things that the state is looking for a massive boost is Tourism, MITRA has tasked KPMG to get a ’10 marquee destinations’ on enhancing natural attraction and heritage sites, improving focus on conservation and enhancing tourism experience. KPMG has been asked to boost tourism by having tie ups with Destination Management organisations for boosting footfall in tourist destinations.

The reforms come from MITRA CEO Praveen Pardeshi who has worked closely with the Chief Minister. MITRA has been constituted by Fadnavis to focus on making the state a 1 trillion-dollar economy by 2028.