Maharashtra slipped to 3rd spot in FDI under Sena-led govt: Fadnavis

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on

Wednesday claimed that Maharashtra has slipped to the third place from the top spot in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under the Shiv Sena-led government.

Speaking to reporters here, the former chief minister also asked the Sena to change its stand on the Nanar refinery and support it and other big-ticket projects.

“Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that Maharashtra attracted huge investment during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am happy about it but many of these MoUs were done during our government and even land had been allotted,” Fadnavis said.

The Shiv Sena-led government signed fresh MoUs for the same projects, he claimed, adding that nonetheless he welcomes flow of investment to Maharashtra.

“However, there is a matter of concern about the recent FDI numbers for states announced by the RBI where Maharashtra has gone down to number three,” Fadnavis claimed.

When he was chief minister, Maharashtra was at number one spot for four consecutive years and in two of these years the state received upto 44 percent of entire FDI flow in the country, he said.

A recent Reserve Bank of India report shows that Gujarat and Karnataka were in the first and second spot as FDI destination and Maharashtra was behind them, he added.

“Lot of investment is exiting China after COVID-19 and India is attracting this investment. It should come to Maharashtra,” Fadnavis said.

“I feel the chief minister should concentrate on this,” he said.

Fadnavis also claimed that he recently heard a Shiv Sena MLA stating that local farmers were now ready to give land for Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district after receiving adequate compensation.

“I feel happy that the Shiv Sena which always protests against such projects is changing its line. The biggest refinery in the country was coming up at Nanar with an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore….but the Shiv Sena protested saying there was local opposition,” he said.

The Sena should change its stand on such big projects, Fadnavis said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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