India’s Maharashtra gets US$200 billion investment vows at Davos
THE home state of India’s financial capital signed investment pledges worth US$200 billion at Davos, with a majority coming from foreign investors, said Maharashtra’s chief minister on Thursday (Jan 23).
“My pitch to investors is that there is very good investment climate” in the state, Devendra Fadnavis told Bloomberg News’s Menaka Doshi in an interview. “We have got huge investments from diverse sectors,” the minister said, adding that companies like Amazon.com and Microsoft are keen to build data centres in the state.
In a series of posts on X, Fadnavis announced pledges signed with Blackstone, Reliance Industries, Jindal Steel Works and Brookfield. States often make investment vows at high-profile summits but only a handful get converted into functioning projects.
Home to the financial hub of Mumbai and most of India’s billionaires, Maharashtra is one of the nation’s most economically-productive states, contributing more than 10 per cent to the gross domestic product. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition won the local polls held last year.
Indian state leaders have collected at the World Economic Forum this week looking to attract more investment for a country hungry for growth. The contingent includes Cabinet ministers and high-level representatives from six states.
Maharashtra has some significant fiscal pressure, the chief minister said, adding that the state has maintained a 3 per cent fiscal deficit the current financial year despite higher spending.
When asked if he has ambitions to succeed Modi as prime minister, Fadnavis said he did not. “I know my strengths and I know my limitations,” he said.
In a separate interview on Thursday, the industries minister of the southern industrial state of Tamil Nadu said he was pitching for investments in autos, electric vehicles and electronics. With the election of US President Donald Trump, “there is more talk of fresher investments,” said TRB Rajaa. N Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh also said his meetings with investors focused on green energy and artificial intelligence. BLOOMBERG
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