Maharashtra received Rs 75,000 crore investment commitments this fiscal: Subhash Desai

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government received investment commitments of over Rs 75,000 crore this fiscal in diverse sectors, including electronics and automobiles, state Industries Minister Subhash Desai said.

"We have received new investment commitments of Rs 75,000 crore in Maharashtra in the last eight months," Desai told PTI on the sidelines of an event here.

Without sharing the comparative figures for the same period last year, he said the investment commitments are in diverse sectors, including electronics, auto, auto ancillaries and textiles.

The minister, however, expressed unhappiness over the industry's preference for the region around Pune and said that the state wants the investments to be "decentralised" into other regions.

He said the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which will create a base at Aurangabad, and the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (Mihan) are big opportunities, which will funnel more investments into the state in the future.

Desai said interest in the defence and aerospace sectors is also increasing, and mentioned Reliance Industries' announcement to set up its aerospace facility in Nagpur at an investment of over Rs 6,000 crore as a welcome move.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been aggressive in selling the opportunities present in the state and has travelled to countries like China and US to scout for investors.

He has also accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi on some of his international tours.

The announcement by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn to invest $5 billion in August this year was one of the biggest investment commitments the state has received, which was preceded by an announcement by General Motors to invest Rs 6,400 crore at its Talegaon plant.

Fadnavis recently pointed out that neglect of the ports sector by the previous regimes led to decline of interest by the industry and affirmed his government's commitment to do more work on the same.

The Chief Minister said that all the developed countries in the world have adopted a "port-led" development, which Maharashtra is also adopting.

He specified moves such as the decision to have a major port off the Dahanu coast, steps taken to improve rail connectivity at Dighi and Jaigad ports as some of the measures undertaken by his government.