Maharashtra eyes Rs 10 trillion from investor summit, Virgin Atlantic's Branson to be present

Virgin Atlantic Group founder and chairman Richard Branson will be among the host of business leaders who will be attending the three-day event that will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi next Sunday.

"We expect agreements of Rs 10 trillion investments to be signed at Magnetic Maharashtra across several sectors," additional chief secretary, industries, Sunil Porwal, told PTI today.

The official said the government is expecting Rs 3.5 trillion investments into affordable housing, Rs 1.25 trillion into renewable energy projects, Rs 10,000 crore in agriculture and Rs 4,000 crore in tourism.

The rest would be in other sectors like auto, cement, fertilisers and information technology sectors, he added.

A bulk of these agreements will be with private and foreign investors, he said, adding that there will be a couple of investment announcements by state-run enterprises as well.

The state has announced a slew of sector-specific policies in the run-up to the summit beginning next Sunday.

It has received confirmations from 100 business leaders, including global ones like Virgin Atlantic's Branson, who will be attending the summit, Porwal said, adding that domestic industry leaders like Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra will also be there.

The state had aggressively marketed itself as an investment destination at the first 'Make in India' summit held two years ago in the financial capital and secured investment commitments of over Rs 8 lakh crore in it.

Though most of them remain on paper even today, Porwal downplayed this saying some work has already been initiated on projects worth 65 per cent of the headline investment from that summit.

Porwal said the idea behind the Magnetic Maharashtra is not only to sign agreements, but also to showcase the state's potential for investments in the future and also learn from the best in the world.

When asked about pending investment proposals like the USD 5 billion investment by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn, he admitted that not much ground has been covered.

Foxconn is in talks to check into the export-oriented special economic zone proposed by JNPT, which will benefit the state, he said, adding that the Taiwanese major already has rented some place in Navi Mumbai.

Asked about the conversion of Reliance Industries'proposed MahaMumbai SEZ's land into an industrial township, Porwal said the state will play the facilitator's role but the project promoters, including Cidco, Jai Corp and Ambani, will have to get investors for it.