The state industries department and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will soon jointly launch an outreach project to hold interaction with the with the consul generals of 10 countries, overseas and Indian trade bodies, government agencies and companies. The outreach is aimed at reaching out to those who have already carried out investments in the state to understand their experience and seek suggestions to improve ease of doing business. MIDC in the first phase has shortlisted US, Japan, China, UK, Russia, Germany, France, South Korea, Sweden and Singapore. The state undertaking hopes to start interactive sessions from the first week of December which will go on til February next year.
MIDC CEO P Anbalagan told DNA,” Maharashtra is the favoured investment destination. In order to further increase the FDI inflow, the state industries department and MIDC will reach out to the overseas firms to understand their issues, bottlenecks faced by them in carrying out investments and trouble shoot them. MIDC will clear those plans through single window system in a fixed time frame.”
He further informed that Maharashtra already accounts for 48% of the FDI as on date. This is largely due to several initiatives taken by the government for Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), investor friendly policies, quality infrastructure and skilled manpower. He said that MIDC has already started contacting consulates of 10 countries and investors to line up meetings. ”Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry will be roped in to facilitate joint venture by overseas companies with Indian partners,” he added.
Another MIDC officer said that the state’s industrial base comprises pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, heavy chemicals, electronics, automobiles, engineering, food processing and plastics. Based on national and international trends in demand and also based on state’s own resources, the state has identified auto, engineering, electronics, textile and defence as main focus sectors.

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