Rs 4.6 lakh crore investment in ports, industries

People look at the cogs and wheel lion, the symbol for Make in India at Girgaum Chowpatty, on Thursday (Photo: Debasish Dey)

During the course of Make in India week, starting February 13, Maharashtra expects an investment of Rs 4.60 lakh crore across sectors like ports, industries and textiles.

According to chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya, some foreign universities too are keen on tying up with Maharashtra in the education sector.

The Make In India week will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. The Maharashtra government will set up a separate pavilion to showcase ‘Magnetic Maharashtra’, where meetings will be held with Investors and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed.

Mr Kshatriya said that Maharashtra expects huge investment in sectors like automobile, electronics, ports and textile. “We have announced a textile and electronics policy. We have also developed 12 textile parks across Vidarbha, Marathwada and regions in north Maharashtra that grow cotton and another 10-12 textile parks are in the pipeline,” Mr Kshatriya said.

He added that the state government is expecting investment in the textile sector as many foreign and domestic companies are ready to invest in Maharashtra in the sector.

Mr Kshatriya claimed that the state’s electronics policy is one of the best in the country where making semi-conductors and printed circuit boards (PCB) has been given importance.

“Health, education, ports and non-conventional energy are other sectors that will be showcased by Maharashtra during Make In India week,” he said.

According to an official from the chief minister’s office (CMO), a solar panel manufacturer from China could possibly be the biggest investor in the state. “The name of the company would be made public after the MoU is signed. The company has asked us for 3,000-5,000 acres of land for its solar panel manufacturing unit. This will be the largest project of such its type in Maharashtra,” the official claimed.

The official further claimed that the government expects an investment of at least Rs 4.6 lakh crore as the state industries department has been involved in “sincere hard work to bring in actual investments.”

Meanwhile, during the course of the week, there will also be panel discussions over ‘Maharashtra leading the way forward for India’s manufacturing’ and ‘Make in Maharashtra laying the new game plan for success’.

Encourage meds in India: Experts At a time when the Central government is encouraging Made in India, medical experts also highlighted the need to boost indigenous clinical trails to lessen the burden of dependence on foreign countries. Their views were presented at the graduation ceremony of the Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai.

“Foreign countries like Brazil or Britain have their own therapeutic data that help them to provide evidence-based medicine. However, in India, we are outsourcing the data from World Health Organisation, which has parameters according to the findings in foreign countries. This can have severe consequences on the treatment facilities as the geographically and demographically, India is completely different, said Dr Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan, a notable Indian cardiac surgeon and a former president of the Indian National Science Academy.

Dr Valiathan further added, “We need to focus more on performing clinical trials in India that will help in obtaining more scientific data. Also, there is a need to develop more indigenous modern machines that would help in putting a control on import.”

He also suggested that if 10 per cent of the hospitals in India could be involved in scientific studies and research works, then the burden of import of technologies and dependence on foreign countries for clinical trials can be curbed.

However, Dr Jitendra Singh, the minister of state for development, refused to accept Dr Dr Valiathan’s suggestion. He said, “I believe that with time, India will progress more. But the need of the hour is to focus more on non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and others.”