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Maharashtra hardsells IT, biotech in America
The state's CM is to meet leading firms in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Atlanta.
Maharashtra, one of India's most industrialised states, is a potential biotechnology and IT hub for Asia and the world, says Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who is currently visiting the US.
Deshmukh, who is leading a business delegation to seven US cities June 18-30, said Maharashtra offered "the best investment climate" in India even as Mumbai, its capital and India's financial hub, remained a magnet that drew investment in.
The chief minister's delegation was to meet leading American companies in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Atlanta.
Deshmukh projected his state at a luncheon for business executives organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the Indian Consulate in New York Tuesday as an investment destination that offered a wide diversity of opportunities.
He specifically focused on turning Maharashtra into an IT and biotechnology hub for Asia and the world.
"Maharashtra has some natural advantages for biotech industry. It has a vast scientific pool, rich biodiversity and strong pharmaceutical industry," Deshmukh said. The state contributes about 40 percent of the total turnover of the pharmaceutical industry in India, according to an official brochure.
He also said the state offered immense opportunities for agro-biotechnology. Maharashtra contributes about 18 percent of the total fruit produce in India and accounts for one-third of the cut flowers business.
Deshmukh also highlighted his state's IT potential, pointing out the emerging knowledge hubs of Mumbai and Pune.
The chief minister conceded that the state was going through its worst power crisis and had to endure frequent load shedding because of a shortfall of 3,300 megawatts (MW). He described the situation as "temporary", saying the state had finalised deals to produce 12,000 MW of additional power.
One of the major sore points on the power front has been the failure of the Enron power project at Dabhol, which was attributed to a dispute over electricity tariffs with its sole buyer, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. After the Enron debacle in the US, the company had to be shut down.
In the past few weeks G.E. Energy, a US company, has been working with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) to restart the Dabhol plant. Deshmukh said he had conveyed to the Indian government that the state was willing to purchase power from the plant once the tariffs were finalised.
Among the major projects that Deshmukh mentioned was turning the city of Nagpur into an international cargo hub. "We want to make Nagpur into Asia's Frankfurt. We have already allocated 3,300 hectares of land for the purpose," he said.
Another favourite project of Deshmukh's has been to transform Mumbai into a world class city. As part of that drive his government has run into political resistance over the clearing of a large number of city's slums.
"Those slums create a wrong impression about the city. It is not as if we are just removing them. We have a plan to rehabilitate them. Only those slums which obstruct the city's progress are being removed," he said.
According to the state government's official backgrounder, Maharashtra leads the rest of the Indian states in terms of state domestic product, domestic investment (21 percent of India's total), foreign direct investment (23 percent of the country's total), per capita income (40 percent higher than the national average), and gross industrial output (twice the national average). It accounts for 40 percent of the country's exports, 20 percent of software exports and 20 percent of industrial production.
The chief minister's delegation includes Ashok S. Chavan, industries minister; R.M. Premkumar, the state's chief secretary; Subhash Lalla, principle secretary to the chief minister; V.K. Jairath, industries secretary; Satish M. Gavai of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation; and several industrialists.
