Maharashtra has always been a pioneer in leading the country when it comes to its economy. We are the highest contributors to India’s GDP (14.89%) and the recipient of highest Foreign Direct Investment across all the states. We are an industrial house with the largest container port handling 70.71 million tonnes of traffic in FY 19 traffic in FY 19 with equally great achievements when it comes to agricultural production. We are the financial capital of the country and the educational hub of the nation at some point in time. It’s a state that is deeply rooted in the culture and at the same time focused and marching into the new era.

This stunning achievement was and is led by numerous industrialists and entrepreneurs for decades. The state is the pride of the nation and constant contributor to its growth. A hitch in its development has a direct and immediate impact on the national economy. Growth was badly hit in 2011 -2014 and then came the change in power at the state level and Devendra Fadnavis took over as the Chief Minister. What were his achievements? I try to highlight.

Magnetic Maharashtra

The Chief Minister started off the Magnetic Maharashtra programme to attract new capital and industry. It was broadly based on the vision of utilising the skilled workforce that the state offered and coupled with the incentives for new investment. The idea was to develop MSME and industrial clusters and tap the unutilised potential in areas like Amravati, Akola, Chandrapur and Solapur and Sangli. The Pune, Mumbai Kolhapur belt is fairly developed with state-of-the-art industry and enterprises.

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The state was lagging behind due to the policy paralysis offered by the earlier government. To set things right, the Devendra Fadnavis led government introduced new policies like state tax abatement, stamp duty exemption, skill development and single window clearance. Special incentives were offered for mega and ultra mega investments. Result? Thousands of MOU’s with investment commitments running into lacs of crores were signed up. Usually, many of these MOU’s never materialise into actual investments due to various factors, however, Maharashtra has a different story to offer. It converted 63% of the MOU’s Into actual investments.

Effect of the above

GSDP of the state at current prices grew at a CAGR (in Rs) of around 11.77 per cent from 2011-12 to 2017-18. At current prices, GSDP of Maharashtra was Rs 24.97 trillion (US$ 387.36 billion) in 2017-18. This was at Rs. 16.50 Trillion (US$ 272.68 Billion) when Devendra Fadnavis took over. Maharashtra state’s per capita GSDP at the current price was Rs 205,537 (US$ 3,189.09) in 2017-18. This was Rs. 142381 ( US$ 2353.40) in 2013-14. The per capita GSDP of Maharashtra grew at a CAGR of 10.46 per cent between 2011-12 and 2017-18. At current prices, NSDP of Maharashtra was Rs 21.94 trillion (US$ 340.41 billion) in 2017-18. This number stood at Rs. 14.49 Trillion (US$ 239.47 Billion) Maharashtra’s NSDP grew at a CAGR of around 11.75 per cent from 2011-12 to 2017-18. At current price, the state’s per capita NSDP was Rs 180,596 (US$ 2,802.11) in 2017-18. The per capita NSDP of Maharashtra grew at a CAGR of 10.43 per cent between 2011-12 and 2016-17 Over 2017-18, the tertiary sector contributed 54.50% to the state’s GSDP at current prices and this number was 51.07% in 2011. In 2017-18 the secondary sector contributed 33.60% to the state’s GSDP at current prices and this number stood at 30.88% in 2011. The tertiary sector grew at a CAGR of 15.12% between 2011- 12 and 2017-18. Growth was driven by trade, hotels, real estate, finance, insurance, transport, communications and other services. The secondary sector grew at a CAGR of 15.50% between 2011-12 and 2017-18. The growth in the secondary sector was driven by growth in manufacturing, construction and electricity, gas & water supply industries. The primary sector expanded at a CAGR of 6.25 per cent between 2011-12 and 2017-18. Agriculture is the major contributor in the growth of the primary sector followed by forestry and fishing

The above facts can be accessed and verified from the following Source.

The state increased its installed power capacity from 34,000 MW in 2013-14 to 44,000 MW in 2019-20. The state has 2 big ports which have handled 131.29 Million Tonnes and there are 48 minor ports which have handled 20.12 Million Tonnes in 2018-19. These are some staggering numbers if examined critically and that the state effectively uses the 700 kms of Coastline very effectively is a testament to the government’s efforts to build physical infrastructure.

Apart from the above, the state saw massive investment in industrial infrastructure as well. There are 29 export SEZ. In just 2017 the state government proposed 12 Bio-Technology SEZ with an investment of 4733 crores.

A Trillion Dollar Economy

When the National GDP was showing signs of slowdown the Maharashtra state GSDP was growing at a healthy rate. With such massive investment in infrastructure, education, telecommunication, healthcare, power and heavy industry coupled with land reforms and ease of doing business initiatives, the state is set to be the first trillion-dollar state in the country 5 years before its scheduled time as per the current growth rate, which again was propelled by the Devendra Fadnavis government. A sincere and independent opinion regarding the performance of the state government on the economy front is that they have done massively well and its hoped that the same momentum is carried forward.