Maharashtra Economic Survey: Number of cleared state projects fell from 273 in 2021 to 211 a year later

The Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled on March 8 exposed the claims of the State Government regarding industrial investment in Maharashtra. The survey clearly shows that investments worth Rs2,77,335 crore were cleared in 2021 but sharply fell to Rs35,870 crore in 2022. This cements the allegations made by the opposition parties about the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government’s failure to attract the investment into Maharashtra. 

The Economic Survey has tabled the performance of six states, highlighting investments in 2020, 2021and 2022. Maharashtra had 273 cleared projects in 2021 and was number one in attracting investments. That year, Gujarat, with 214 projects at an investment of Rs92,566 crore, was the second largest. The third state in 2021 was Karnataka with 114 projects with an investment of Rs61,726 crore. 

The Gujarat Factor

In 2022, both Gujarat and Karnataka surpassed Maharashtra, which had dipped to 211 projects. The projects cleared for investment in Gujarat were 168 with a total investment of Rs98,159 crore, while Karnataka had 97 projects with an investment of Rs68,931 crore.

In the fiscal 2022-23, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was at the helm for just three months before the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power in July 2022. The new government first came under fire over Foxconn shifting the site of its proposed semiconductor plant from Talegaon-Pune to Anand in Gujarat.

Later, a proposed pharma hub at Raigad was shifted to Himachal Pradesh. Both times, industry minister Uday Samant had passed the buck to the MVA.