Embattled chief minister Villasrao Deshmukh has got an unexpected shot in the arm Maharashtra has emerged as the state with the maximum industrial investment surpassing Nerendra Modi’s Gujarat.
For over three decades Maharashtra was widely viewed as a leading state in terms of industrial investment. However post – 1995, the state witnessed a steady decline and was slowly upstaged by Gujarat, TamilNadu, Karnataka, and even Andhra Pradesh. During 2004-05, Gujarat was on the top with an investment of Rs.10,983 crore, followed by TamilNadu (Rs.9,929 crore). Maharashtra was third (Rs.9808 crore).
However, in 2005-06, Maharashtra has outperformed the competition with a total investment of Rs. 26,947 crore in 123 project followed buy Gujarat (Rs.24,531 crore in 95 projects) and TamilNadu (Rs.12,160 crore in 124 project).
A year ago, along with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu’s then Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa. , Maharashtra had launched a massive campaign to lure investment. The various Chief Ministers promised investors uninterrupted power and land at nominal prices. However, from the figures released by the RBI in its bulletin on corporate investment Growth in 2005-06 And Prospects For 2006-07, it is clear that for investors, Maharashtra is the destination of choice.
Industries secretary V.K.Jairath attributed the unexpected investment to the faith that entrepreneur reposed in the Congress-led Democratic front Government “ In my opinion, Maharashtra will be the destination for investors in view of the sound infrastructure and very high productivity of labour Of course, we are also marketing our state very aggressively ,” Jairath told TOL

State’s Campaign Bears Fruit

It seems that the Democratic front government’s massive campaign to lure investors to the state has borne fruit. Maharashtra has outdone Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, emerging as the state with the maximum industrial investment. In 2005-06 , the state witnessed a total investment of Rs. 26,947 crore, leaving Gujarat and TamilNadu behind Even when it came to Special Economic Zones, Jairath said of the 150 sanctioned by the Centre, a record 50 are to be in Maharashtra . Jairath expects a total investment of more than Rs.234517 crore. The developers alone will invest at least Rs.41749 crore for providing state-of-the –art infrastructure in the SEZs, Jairath added.
Post –March2006, Jairath said the government is expecting an investment of nearly Rs.2,500 crore, including Rs.500 crore by the Tata Consultancy Services, Rs.1350 crore by General Motors and Rs.750 crore by the Mahindras.
In addition, Bharat Forge has signed a memorandum of understanding for an SEZ at Baramati in Pune district.
A senior Congress minister said that the results are a pleasant surprise: after floods for three years, terror attack farmer suicides and power outages, Maharashtra’s once robust image has taken a bad beating. The Government did not expect entrepreneurs to bite.
“Modi tried his best to attract investment, so also the TamilNadu government, but obviously they failed to impress investors,” a Congress minister added.