India's richest state, Maharashtra, undergoing major makeover

Singapore

INDIA'S richest state, Maharashtra, which includes the country's financial capital Mumbai is in the throes of a major makeover - and the results are already showing, in the form of rising foreign investment and buoyant growth.

A government led by 47-year-old Devendra Fadnavis of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who has been in office since October 2014, is pulling out all the stops to ramp up infrastructure, ease business regulations and revive the state's once-ailing farm sector.

In a talk yesterday organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies and the High Commission of India, Mr Fadnavis outlined the initiatives that his government was taking to boost Maharashtra, which accounts for 15 per cent of India's GDP and has a population of 114 million…