Maharashtra prime FDI destination

Maharashtra chief secretary Prem Kumar on Monday claimed that the state is still a leader in terms of attracting foreign direct investment.

With FDI inflows at $13.5 billion, it surpasses even the combined investment in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Prem Kumar was sharing the details of a presentation recently made to the cabinet secretary in Delhi, called 'Maharashtra New Vision,' with the media in Mumbai.

He further said, 'It is a myth that states like Gujarat or Tamil Nadu have taken over Maharashtra in terms of FDI inflows, and in absolute terms, we are still ahead of all these states. Tamil Nadu got FDI inflows of $6.6 billion, Andhra Pradesh $3.85 billion and Gujarat at $4.85 billion."

He further said, "By 2015, the state plans to increase its per capita income from the present Rs 35,000 to Rs 75,000. For achieving this target, we need to increase our gross state domestic product (GSDP) by 2 per cent, which is currently pegged at 8 per cent."

"The state has taken major initiatives in power and road sector, and by 2010, we want to make the state power surplus. To achieve this goal, we have already inked memorandums of understanding with private parties to add 3,500 mw of generation capacity. However, the state will have to face loadshedding till 2010," he said.

In the road sector, we plan to lay 1,700 km of new roads at an outlay of Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) by 2015, and all these projects will be constructed on build, operate, own and transfer (BOOT) basis, he said.

He also said that the state gives subsidies worth around Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) to farm sector which will be phased out by 2010.

Kumar also said that, "The state is planning to have three international airports which includes one at Navi Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur."

Besides this state also want to upgrade air ports at cities like Kolhapur, Nashik, Jalgaon, Solapur, Latur to full fledged commercial air ports.

He further said that the state seeks to develop Mumbai-Pune-Nashik triangle as a commercial hub. For this purpose, road, power and other infrastructure projects are being taken up on a priority basis in this region.