The Make in India Week, which took place earlier this year, had been accompanied with tall claims, very few of which became reality. Packed with business events like the Hackathon, sessions on global design and innovation, CNN Asia business forum, seminars and exhibitions, Mumbai hosted the who's who of the business community during the event. The Centre highlighted 11 focus sectors to attract investments — aerospace and defence, automobiles and automobile components, chemicals and petrochemicals, construction equipment, material and technology, food processing, infrastructure development, IT and electronics, industrial equipment and machinery, micro, small and medium enterprises, pharmaceuticals and textiles. However, after almost 10 months, the state has nothing concrete to show. Under the Make in India initiative, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that he had invited Foxconn, the Apple mobile manufacturer, to set up a plant in Maharashtra. But, due to the absence of a client base, the manufacturer has not started this unit.
The state government and the Taiwan-based electronic contract manufacturer Foxconn Technologies had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on August 8 last year, following which it was announced that Apple smartphones would be manufactured in the state. Foxconn had announced an investment of $5 billion over the next five years. Mr Fadnavis had also allotted 1,500 acres of land in Pune to the company and claimed that the tie-up would create direct employment for 50,000 people. However, nothing has moved forward by even an inch so far.
Waiting game:
- India received investment commitments worth Rs 15.2 lakh crore from domestic and foreign manufacturers during the Make in India Week.
- Maharashtra got over Rs 8 lakh crore, or 52 per cent of the proposed investments.
- Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple, had signed an MoU with the state to to set up a plant in Maharashtra.
- Post that, however, nothing has moved forward by even an inch so far.
- One of the still-dormant agreements reached at the Make in India Week was between Sterlite Group, TwinStar Display Technologies and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation for an LCD manufacturing unit in the state.
