Mumbai: The Maharashtra government signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth over ₹30,000 crore during the ongoing annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland. As many as 23 MoUs were signed for investment in sectors, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, information technology, data centres, textiles, food processing, packaging, paper and pulp, and steel. The investment will create 66,000 jobs in the state, state industries minister Subhash Desai said on Tuesday.
A delegation, including state industries minister Desai, energy minister Nitin Raut and environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, is presently in Davos.
“Today, the state government signed 23 MoUs with various companies with investments worth ₹30,379 crore. These investments will potentially generate more than 66,000 jobs,” Desai posted on his Twitter.
The state has signed MoUs with Microsoft Corporation ( ₹3,200 crore), Asia Pulp & Paper ( ₹10,500 crore), Tata Realty ( ₹5,000 crore), Gramsci Business Hubs ( ₹5,000 crore), Vishvaraj Environment Private Limited ( ₹1,000 crore), GR Group ( ₹740 crore), Scalar Spaces ( ₹650 crore), Indorama Corporation ( ₹600 crore), Indo Count Industries Limited ( ₹510 crore), Colorshine Coated Private Limited ( ₹510 crore), Goyal Proteins ( ₹380 crore), PG Electroplast Limited ( ₹315 crore), Havmor Ice Cream Private Limited ( ₹263 crore), Carnival Industries ( ₹207 crore), Sonai Dairy ( ₹200 crore), Valiant Group ( ₹150 crore) and Alprose Industries ( ₹150 crore), among others.
“Of the total investment, over 55% is part of foreign direct investments (FDI) from countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, US and Japan,” said an official from the industries department.
Under the Magnetic Maharashtra initiative, the state has signed a total of 121 MoUs aiming to bring a total investment of ₹2.2 lakh crore with a potential to generate almost 4,00,000 jobs.
In the last two years between October 2019 to December 2021, the state has received 26% of total FDI, which was the highest in the country, the official added.
Voyager Space Holding, a US-based commercial space company, is also interested in investing in Maharashtra, informed the industries minister.
“Met Mathew Kuta COO & founder of Voyager Space Holding Pvt. Ltd. @WEF @Davos. Voyager is a global leader in space exploration and they want to include “space” in the college syllabus. For that, they are keen to invest in Maharashtra. We are looking forward to working together,” Desai tweeted on Monday.
Maharashtra also became the first sub-national government member of the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), a multi-stakeholder platform dedicated to translating commitments to reduce plastic pollution and waste into concrete action, by signing an MoU, which will serve as a roadmap for sustainable development in the state.
“An MoU signed between @MahaEnvCC & @wef regarding the ‘Global Plastic Action Partnership’ at the Maharashtra Pavilion. Maharashtra is now the 1st sub-national government member of GPAP of the @wef. We believe that this is the decade of action!,” Aaditya Thackeray tweeted on Monday.
This comes in the backdrop of Maharashtra’s decision to ban single-use plastic in 2018.
Thackeray said that they discussed future collaboration with Meta, a US-based multinational technology conglomerate and the parent organization of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other subsidiaries.
“Met with @nickclegg, President Global Affairs, @Meta at the Meta Reception. Discussed how @WhatsApp Chatbot is being used by @mybmc for grievance redressals. Also discussed the potential future collaborations between the Government of Maharashtra & Meta,” Thackeray tweeted.