Mumbai: That Maharashtra is India’s best destination to put your money in is a cliché every chief minister of this state has deployed with legitimate justification. When this soporific cliché is repeated at investment gatherings unintelligently named ‘Advantage Maharashtra’, or something of the same sort, bored investors—some of them Mumbai residents—nod in agreement, though in private they crib about problems at home that undercut the Maharashtra story. The same set of investors performs the same ritual in Ahmedabad or in Hyderabad or in Bengaluru.

Depending on which part of India they are in, investors adjust their proclamations about India’s best investment destination. At the Make in India shindig in Mumbai from 13-18 February, investors may not have this luxury of convenient geography. On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open this week-long business marathon that is as much an advertisement of Make in India for global business as it is for 16 different Indian states that would vie for a pie of the global cake.

“It would be competitive federalism at work," said a top Maharashtra bureaucrat, who requested anonymity for what he himself described as a “provocative statement" about different states competing with each other at the Make in India jamboree.

The vast Make in India campus on the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai’s business district of Bandra Kurla Complex houses state pavilions where the 16 states will sell their investment credentials right on the turf of Maharashtra. Of these 16 states, 12 including Maharashtra will also have their investor summits and B2B meetings on the sidelines. Maharashtra also has a session on innovation.

India’s number one state in terms of its FDI (foreign direct investment) and GDP (gross domestic product) share is not taking any chances, and has jazzed up its message by roping in cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit in a promotional message now on television.

“It is a bit awkward balance to maintain. As the host of Make in India we must do our best to showcase India in the best colours. But we also have to make sure that once an investor has made up his mind to invest in India the location should be Maharashtra. Our messaging is taking care of this delicate balance," the bureaucrat quoted earlier said.

Maharashtra being the host state has a natural advantage. At the MMRDA grounds, the Make in India lion, the mascot for the mission, has some company—the same lion has different avatars like Make in Maharashtra, Make in Mumbai, and Make in Marathwada too.

Maharashtra has set a target of winning investment commitments worth ₹ 2 trillion from the event. Before a large community of global and domestic investors, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would point out the policy changes that Maharashtra has initiated in retail trade, electronics manufacturing, construction, port development and shipping, special incentives for Dalit entrepreneurs, and faster environmental clearances.

Generous doses of Maharashtra culture and traditions, a galaxy of Bollywood stars led by Amitabh Bachchan, and a Make in India night featuring many celebrities at the famous Girgaon chowpatty will lend the investment mela a distinct Maharashtra-Mumbai flavour.

Other states concede that Maharashtra has more of the cultural-entertainment quotient. “But that’s natural and I do not mind it. It is a national event and Mumbai is our most international city. On the business side though all states will have some or the other things better than others," said a top bureaucrat from Gujarat, who is part of the state’s delegation to the event, but did not want to be named.

Maharashtra seems aware of the challenge. “We have three key advantages over others. One, the locational advantage with an excellent port, rail, and road connectivity. Two, we have an exceptional business ecosystem, Mumbai professionalism, and no political interference in policy making. Three, we have better infrastructure, labour force is peaceful, and ready to adopt new skills," says Bhushan Gagrani, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp. (MIDC). Asked about competition from other states, Gagrani said, “It has always been the case and we have always been ahead. We have an edge over others on almost every front."

Gagrani’s senior colleague in the state bureaucracy Apurva Chandra, who is Maharashtra’s principal secretary for industries, put things in the competitive context at a recent event, where the state’s pollution control board launched a web portal for submission and processing applications as part of the state’s ease of doing business (EODB) efforts. “The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) rankings in 2015 put Maharashtra at the 8th position. We are not happy with this ranking and aspire to reach the top three in 2016," Chandra said. He said the state had taken several radical policy decisions in the last one year for ease of business.

But so have other states, including those that were not in Maharashtra’s league only a few years ago like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Historically, Maharashtra has been the leader, but other states seem to be catching up and the Make in India event may prove to be the right platform for them to show the transition they are undergoing.

Virtually every state has a single-window clearance system now. What Maharashtra launched this month for online environmental consents is something many other states—Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha to name a few among the top 10 on EODB rankings—implemented in 2015 itself. States like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have carried out key labour reforms. Even Jharkhand, ranked second by the World Bank on EODB standards, has established an online search of indexed properties, automated registration of deeds including e-registration and e-tamping.

Rajasthan, one of the erstwhile Bimaru states. claims it has pioneered labour reforms in India. “We have pioneered labour law reforms and made our labour laws employment-friendly," said Vaibhav Galriya, commissioner, Bureau of Investment Promotion, Rajasthan. He said the state had systematically created a policy environment to encourage private enterprise. “We have a Rajasthan start-up policy and an agriculture business and marketing policy as well among other policies. We have also initiated regulatory interventions and facilitation measures to enhance EODB in Rajasthan," Galriya said.

The fact that seven Indian states have been ranked higher than Maharashtra on the EODB indices itself underlines the intensity of competition. Gujarat, which is at the first position on EODB, will be squaring up against Maharashtra, its nearest rival, in terms of FDI and domestic investment. “We started the single window system way before other states even knew the term. The 2015 rankings took note of our online labour workflow-based application system for registration and renewals. What Maharashtra launched in February 2016 in terms of online environmental consent we had implemented in 2015 only," said the Gujarat official quoted earlier.

The state will be making a special pitch for investments in Gujarat International Finance Tech-City (GIFT). “Now there is talk of making an international finance centre in Mumbai and it is good they are doing it. But we have already built one," the official said.

Andhra Pradesh, placed second on EODB listings, will fully exploit precisely those strengths that pushed up its rankings, said the state’s joint director, industries, Sudarshan Babu. “The highlight of our show at Make in India will be the capital city development opportunity for investors," he said, referring to the Amaravati project. The state has had remarkable achievement in cleaning up the business climate of red tape and delays—26 necessary approvals to set up industry are accorded within 21days of applying through a single desk portal. The World Bank has also lauded the state for 16 best-in-class policies for skill development, cluster development, and an industry-supportive ecosystem through various subsidies. “We are also the first state that has implemented an advance land query web system by which prospective investors can identify land, connectivity, and infrastructure," said a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) official from Andhra Pradesh.

CII has partnered with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for the Make in India campaign.

Maharashtra does not have to reckon just with traditional rivals like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. States like Madhya Pradesh, which Maharashtra could dismiss as a bimaru state a decade back, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha are also aggressively marketing themselves. All these states rank higher than Maharashtra on EODB parameters.

A senior Madhya Pradesh official from the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s office said, on condition of anonymity, that it would be a grave error of judgment on part of the investors if they still considered MP a pushover state. “In Maharashtra or Gujarat the availability of land and cost are prohibitive. But Madhya Pradesh has a huge land bank and we are in the process to digitize it," said the official. A CII functionary, who did not want to be named and is helping Madhya Pradesh government for its show at Make in India, said the state was ranked fifth on EODB indices in the very first year of these rankings being initiated. “This is only the beginning. We have initiated labour reforms and identified 540 industries for issuing pollution control board clearances through a streamlined process," the CII official said.

Chhattisgarh, which like Maharashtra suffers the Naxal insurgency problem on a much larger scale, will be wooing investors on the plank of low cost of doing business as compared to Maharashtra. State’s industry secretary Subodh Kumar Singh said: “Chhattisgarh is already known for three core sectors—steel, aluminum, and cement. What we have done in the last few years is build an ecosystem of ancillary industries that not only complement the core sectors but also develop as independent sectors themselves. These sectors are engineering services, capital goods, and conventional and renewable energy."

He added that Chhattisgarh is a great place to invest in the solar energy generation given the low cost of business. “The EODB rankings have taken note of the low cost of doing business in our state. The low cost of power generation and transmission allows Chhattisgarh to offer one of the cheapest power tariff structures to the industry," he said. The state has also carried out a simple but effective measure to clear pendency in enforcing contracts—it has filled up 80% vacancies in the judiciary to settle contractual disputes.

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