Maha govt puts MoUs worth Rs 5,020 crore signed with Chinese firms on hold

The state government had signed 12 MoUs worth Rs 16,300 with major global companies on the same day that the border clashes were reported.

Maharashtra industries minister Subhash Desai on Monday said in a statement that the Maha Vikas Aghadi – a three-party coalition government comprising the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress (NCP) and the Congress – has decided to temporarily put on hold the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth Rs 5,020 crore recently signed with three Chinese companies.

Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government has stalled MoUs worth Rs 5,020 crore with chinese firms on hold. The MoUs were signed on the same day as the clashes were reported. (HT file photo)

Desai clarified that the agreement has not been cancelled, as the state government wants the Centre to come up with a clear policy framework following the violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on June 15, which left 20 Indian soldiers, including a Colonel, dead.

The state government had signed 12 MoUs worth Rs 16,300 with major global companies on the same day that the border clashes were reported.

The MoUs with three Chinese firms are worth Rs 5,020 crore, including Hengli Group (Rs 250 crore), Great Wall Motors (Rs 3,770 crore) and PMI Electro Mobility Solutions, a joint venture with Foton (Rs 1,000 crore).

“We have decided to put the MoUs signed with the three Chinese firms, worth Rs 5,020 crore, on hold. However, this doesn’t mean that they have been cancelled. We will be waiting for a clear policy from the Central government on this issue,” Desai said in a statement issued on Monday.