The Maharashtra government, in partnership with the Government of India, has planned the biggest investment event in Mumbai for a week from February 14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event where investors from across the globe will be participating. This is the first such event in Maharashtra, and the government is trying to make it bigger than ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ as the two neighbouring states are competing strongly to attract investments.
“We are jointly organising the event with the Centre, Make in India, and Make in Maharashtra. We see this as the biggest investment opportunity for the state, as investors from across the world will be participating. This is for the first time that the state is holding the biggest such event,” Chief Secretary Swadhin Kshatriya said.
Referring to the latest report by a private industries organisation, which has ranked Maharashtra as the number one state in terms of investments, Mr Kshatriya said the upcoming event will help the state retain its position. “We have been given number one in investment but Gujarat is not much behind. We are ensuring that the event planned will be bigger than Vibrant Gujarat,” he said.
Speaking of the Industries Department which has been struggling to reduce the number of permissions for opening new businesses in the past one year and succeeded to an extent, Mr Kshatriya said, “Our main aim is to start a single window system for ease of doing business. The state is planning to legally authorise a body, which can give all types of approvals to new businesses in the state. The body will have a similar structure at the district level too, so that small businesses need not come to the city for approvals.”
At present, permissions are scattered across different departments with no single authority to manage them, he said. Meanwhile, officials from the Industries Department said that the state is spending Rs 100 crore on the event and has high expectations from it. The event will not only be about business deals but will also showcase the culture of the state. A few venues are being finalised for the event, including MMRDA grounds, Prince of Wales museum at Kala Ghoda, and Girgaum Chowpatty. “This is going to be a week-long event and we have different programmes including business, culture and social. We are hoping to land a few thousand crores worth of investment from the event and have deliberately planned it at the beginning of the year,” said an official.
