The stage is set for the ambitious three-day-long “Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018” conclave which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday, officials said.
After inaugurating the state’s first-ever Global Investors Summit at the MMRDA Grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Modi will interact with corporate chiefs during high tea along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
With the tagline #MadeForBusiness, the conclave is billed as one of the biggest event of its kind after the Prime Minister’s ‘Make In India’ initiative was launched in February 2016 in Mumbai.
At this conclave, Maharashtra intends to sign nearly 5,000 MoUs, with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore (close of $156 billion) that is expected to generate employment for 35 lakh people.
“In past couple of years, Maharashtra has achieved a new trajectory in bolstering the state’s industrial output. This is evident in multiple reports released by reputed financial bodies that places the state ahead of the rest in Ease of Doing Business, as also statistics such as 50 per cent of infrastructural development of India being clocked in Maharashtra,” said Fadnavis ahead of the conclave.
Besides the business conclave, an exhibition will be held till February 23 in which flagship projects of the state government will be showcased.
These include the Mumbai Metro, Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway, Mumbai Coastal Road, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link and the Navi Mumbai International Airport, the foundation stone for which will be laid by Modi on Sunday.
Fadnavis has said that ‘Magnetic Maharashtra’ has been conceptualised on four main pillars — Employment, Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Future Industries.
With the summit, the state hopes to strengthen Maharashtra’s position as ‘gateway’ for all industrial development in India wherein the best minds, industries and government machineries converge to co-create.
Fadnavis said his government is focusing on building ‘future-ready state’ that features consistently among top world destinations for industrial innovation and smart manufacturing.
To support new-age young entrepreneurs, the summit will host a competition ‘Magnetic Maharashtra Start-ups Under 30’, with prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for top three innovative start-ups.
Presently, Maharashtra contributes 15 per cent to the gross domestic product that is estimated to grow at 9.4 per cent in the current fiscal, according to officials organising the summit.
Manufacturing contributes 21.43 per cent to the state’s Gross State Domestic Product, and Maharashtra has attracted 45.24 per cent of the total foreign direct investment received by India in the first half of the fiscal.
Though Maharashtra is already acknowledged as the finance and entertainment capital of India, with ‘Magnetic Maharashtra’, the government hopes to catapult it on the path to make it the trade and manufacturing capital as well.
Some of the participants who have confirmed to attend this huge summit are Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman and MD, Mukesh Ambani, Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, Tonino Lamborghini SpA President Tonino Lamborghini, Edward Monser, President, Emerson Electric Co, Hande Diltemiz, country manager, Global production, India, H&M, Cho Hyun-Joon, chairman, Hyosung Group, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO, DP World, among others.
Besides top Indian ministers and officials, Representatives of foreign governments like Karin Roding, Sweden’s State Secretary to the Minister, and Bardish Chagger, Canada’s Minister of Small Business and Tourism, Waterloo, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will also be participating.
The event is being organised jointly by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and association with the Confederation of Indian Industry.
The exhibition centre will showcase automobiles/auto components, defence, food processing, IT/ITES, electronics, heavy engineering, pharmaceuticals and other sectors where scope is available in the state with opportunities in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur.