Mumbai: Thrust on green hydrogen, sunrise industries and agricultural development along with handholding for weaker districts are some of the 341 recommendations made by the Maharashtra Economic Advisory Council to make the state a $1 bn economy by 2030. A detailed presentation was made before the state cabinet under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday.
To achieve 17% growth rate, expanding agricultural sector by 13 percent, get more funds to complete irrigation funds across the state, put 75 irrigation projects that are more than 40 percent complete on fast track, provide more infrastructure in Mumbai and MMR and implement projects for economic development, give an impetus to manufacturing sector, especially the electric vehicles to achieve 18 percent growth rate, generate 15 million jobs through effective skills training by 2028, developing sectors like health, tourism and energy and special thrust on 27 taluks of 15 district to achieve balanced development are some of the broader recommendations to achieve the goal of 1 trillion economy.
CEO of Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA) Pravin Pardeshi made the presentation before the cabinet.
Key areas identified by EAC for immediate affirmative action
Manufacturing, service sector, agriculture and allied sector, energy, infrastructure, real estate and logistics, ease of doing business, empowering MSME and Skill development are the key areas identified by the EAC for immediate affirmative action. Currently the development (as reflected in GDP) is heavily centred around Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. Only 7 out of 36 districts have substantially more GDP than the state average and contribute to 54 percent of the state GDP. Another group of 11 districts, from the western Maharashtra and parts of Vidarbha have a GDP that is nominally more than the state GDP and contribute 26 percent of the state GDP. A third segment of 18 districts contribute only about 20 percent of the state GDP and have substantially lower GDP than the state average. The EAC recommendations revolve around hand holding and putting these districts on a path of rapid growth.
Strong thrust on developing irrigation infrastructure
While providing insights into various sectors, the EAC report has also recommended several policy initiatives like devising agro-tourism policy, electric vehicle policy, exemptions in GST and customs etc. A strong thrust on developing irrigation infrastructure too has been recommended by the EAC as only 20 percent of the harvested areas in the state have assured irrigation facilities available for them. Moreover, this is when the sector provides livelihood to almost 50 percent of the working age population.
In the sector of manufacturing industries, the MIDC has 2644 factories over 16 lakh sq mtrs that have been closed down. Reasons for their closure are being identified and efforts need to be made to rectify the lacuna. Moreover, 40.88 Lac Sq. Mtr. Land has been identified that can be monetised to raise funds for capital investment. Around $250 Bn of capital investment would be needed over the next five years to realize the dream of a $1bn economy, the EAC report has said.
