Maharashtra emerging as key destination of global investors: CM
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that Maharashtra is not only cementing its position as India's leading industrial state but is also emerging as a key destination for global investors.
The chief minister was speaking at the event '2025 India Conference: Accelerating Growth, Maharashtra @ One Trillion' hosted by Bank of America at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai.
Highlighting the state's growing role in defence manufacturing, data infrastructure, and startup innovation, Fadnavis said Maharashtra is now prepared for the industries and innovations of the future.
The CM said that the Make in India initiative has significantly benefited Maharashtra. Citing the recent success of 'Operation Sindoor', he said it showcases India's evolving defence production capabilities, with Maharashtra emerging as the true epicentre of the country's defence manufacturing sector, despite the presence of industry clusters in states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
He pointed out that Maharashtra currently houses nearly 60 per cent of India's total data centre capacity, and Mumbai has become the fintech capital of the country.
The state is also becoming a magnet for startups, offering fertile ground for tech and innovation-driven enterprises.
'Global investors are seeking stable and secure environments to invest in, especially within global supply chains—and India is best placed to offer that,' Fadnavis said, adding that Maharashtra is fully geared to seize this opportunity.
The CM said that Maharashtra attracted over Rs 16 lakh crore in investments during the recent World Economic Forum at Davos. Over half of this is directed towards manufacturing, he said, reflecting the tangible impact of the Make in India policy on the ground.
Given the geographic limitations of coastal Mumbai, Fadnavis outlined the development of a 'Fourth Mumbai' around the Vadhavan Port region. The proposed city will be three times the size of existing urban zones, featuring themed developments such as edu-city (with 10 international universities),sports city, medicine city, knowledge city and innovation city. He said that going beyond Mumbai, Thane, and Pune, the government is accelerating industrialisation in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is being positioned as an EV manufacturing hub. Gadchiroli is set to become a new 'steel city' with over Rs 1 lakh crore in investments. Cities like Nagpur, Nashik and Dhule are witnessing large-scale investments in IT, manufacturing, and infrastructure,' he said
Fadnavis also introduced a three-stage administrative vision: immediate action plan – Maharashtra 2029; mid-term strategy – Maharashtra 2035; and long-term vision – Maharashtra 2047.
These plans will integrate emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) into governance and economic planning.
A new advanced cybersecurity centre is also in the pipeline to address growing cybercrime threats in a unified manner.
Concluding his address, Fadnavis reiterated that Maharashtra is not only chasing rapid industrial and infrastructure growth but is building a resilient, future-ready economy capable of supporting India's rise on the global stage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
40 minutes ago
- The Hindu
RBI cuts repo rate by 50 bps to give boost to growth
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) under the chairmanship of Sanjay Malhotra, Governor, Reserve Bank of India on Friday (June 6, 2025) voted to reduce the policy repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.50% with immediate effect. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) shall stand adjusted to 5.25% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 5.75%. 'This decision is in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%, while supporting growth,' RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said in the monetary policy statement. After having reduced the policy repo rate by 100 bps in quick succession since February 2025, under the current circumstances, monetary policy is left with very limited space to support growth. Hence, the MPC also decided to change the stance from accommodative to neutral. From here onwards, the MPC will be carefully assessing the incoming data and the evolving outlook to chart out the future course of monetary policy in order to strike the right growth-inflation balance. The fast-changing global economic situation too necessitates continuous monitoring and assessment of the evolving macroeconomic outlook, the Governor said. Taking all various factors into account, real GDP growth for 2025-26 is projected at 6.5%, with Q1 at 6.5%, Q2 at 6.7%, Q3 at 6.6%, and Q4 at 6.3%. The risks are evenly balanced. Also taking various factors into consideration, and assuming a normal monsoon, CPI inflation for the financial year 2025-26 is now projected at 3.7%, with Q1 at 2.9%; Q2 at 3.4%; Q3 at 3.9%; and Q4 at 4.4%. The risks are evenly balanced. The MPC observed that inflation has softened significantly over the last six months from above the tolerance band in October 2024 to well below the target with signs of a broad-based moderation. 'The near-term and medium-term outlook now gives us the confidence of not only a durable alignment of headline inflation with the target of 4%, as exuded in the last meeting but also the belief that during the year, it is likely to undershoot the target at the margin,' the Governor said. As Lavrov plans India visit, Putin aide ruffles feathers by repeating Trump claim on mediation Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to visit Delhi this month, even as a controversy brewed over Russia repeating U.S. President Donald Trump's claim, that India has denied, that Washington mediated the India-Pakistan ceasefire last month. This is the first visit to India by a Foreign Minister from one of the UN Security Council's permanent member nations since Operation Sindoor. Diplomatic sources suggested that Mr. Lavrov could travel as early as next week, to discuss strategic and economic ties with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Significantly, Mr. Lavrov will be arriving in India after a meeting with Pakistan's Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi in Moscow on Tuesday, and before a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in July if both leaders travel to the upcoming BRICS summit in Brazil. On Thursday, however, a comment by Mr. Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov raised eyebrows. While speaking about Mr. Trump's conversation with Mr. Putin on Ukraine, he mentioned that other issues were also discussed, including the Middle East, 'as well as the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, which has been halted with the personal involvement of President Trump.' When asked, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that it had 'clarified [India's] position fair and square' about the four-day conflict after India launched strikes on Pakistan's terror infrastructure in Operation Sindoor on May 7. 'The cessation of hostilities (May 10) happened bilaterally and was done by the two DGMOs [Directors General of Military Operations],' the MEA spokesperson said on Thursday. Despite the consistent denials, Mr. Trump and U.S. government officials have said more than a dozen times, including in a sworn submission in a U.S. court, that the U.S. had 'mediated' between the two sides, using trade as 'leverage' to ensure an end to hostilities. It is unclear whether Mr. Ushakov simply repeated Mr. Trump's claims during the conversation with Mr. Putin ad verbatim, or whether Russia had any other source of information on the subject, but officials are expected to clarify India's position again during Mr. Lavrov's visit. Apart from discussing the details of Operation Sindoor, where the success of Indian military hardware — including those supplied by Russia, such as the S-400 air defence systems — was seen, Mr. Lavrov is expected to call for speeding up Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the sources said. The EAEU, which includes Russia and the former Soviet states of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, is a common market and customs union that has been in talks with India since 2015. In January 2025, the government said that 'India is finalising the terms of reference' for the FTA. Talks have been bolstered by the seven-fold rise in India-Russia bilateral trade from 2021 to nearly US $70 billion in 2024, primarily due to Indian purchases of Russian oil, despite western sanctions. Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin told journalists that the EAEU-India FTA is the 'need of the hour', a 'turning point', and a 'game changer' in economic ties. 'The acceleration of the FTA talks was one of the most important topics on the agenda when PM Modi and President Putin met in Moscow in 2024,' Mr. Babushkin said, adding that India and Russia had since made progress on issues like payment mechanisms, insurance, and banking facilities. Elon Musk's Starlink gets licence to start India services amid feud with Trump Elon Musk's Starlink has received a licence from the telecom department for providing satellite internet services in India, a key milestone that will take it closer towards launching commercial operations in the country. Starlink is the third company after Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications to get a licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide satellite internet services in the country. A fourth applicant, Amazon's Kuiper is still waiting for approvals. DoT sources confirmed on Friday (June 6, 2025) that Starlink has indeed received the licence and said the company will be granted trial spectrum in 15-20 days of applying for it. Starlink will now have to comply with the security norms such as providing access for lawful interception, before starting services. The licence came hours after a huge public spat between Mr. Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump. The licence from DoT came nearly a month after the Starlink was issued a letter of intent (LoI) by the telecom department. The companies that have received the licence would, however, have to a wait a tad longer for commercial satcom spectrum as the Trai just recently sent its recommendations on pricing, and terms and conditions, to the government for its consideration. The players will be able to start their services after the allocation of radio wave frequencies. Typically, even before the commercial spectrum, the trial spectrum is required to test, and verify the systems and processes on security parameters to demonstrate that all norms and requirements, are being complied with. The status of the Starlink's final nod from the Indian space regulator, In-SPACe could not be immediately ascertained. Starlink is a satellite internet service developed by SpaceX — the American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company founded in 2002 by the world's richest man Musk. It provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet worldwide using satellite technology and is aptly described by some as broadband beamed from the skies. Unlike conventional satellite services that rely on distant geostationary satellites, Starlink utilises the world's largest low Earth orbit or LEO constellation (550 km above Earth). This constellation of LEO satellites (7,000 now but eventually set to grow to over 40,000) and its mesh delivers broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, and video calls. Starlink, which had been vying for an Indian licence for some time now, recently signed pacts with Ambani's Reliance Jio and Mittal's Bharti Airtel, which together control more than 70% of the country's telecom market, to bring the U.S. satellite internet giant's services to India. The nod for the satcom offering — known for its resilience in harsh conditions and conflict zones — coincides with escalation of Donald Trump-Elon Musk feud in the U.S. Ayodhya police bust ₹3.85 crore 'prasad' scam carried out during Ram Temple consecration In an astonishing revelation by the Ayodhya police, a cyber scam worth ₹3.85 crore was unearthed recently, where devotees were manipulated for deception in the name of prasad for Ram Lalla. The kingpin of the fraud named Ashish Singh, a resident of Ghaziabad exploited the spiritual fervour among devotees since January 22, 2024, through a fake website offering Ram Temple prasad delivered to their doorsteps. Mr. Singh, launched a fake portal, just weeks before the 2024 consecration ceremony, collecting orders from more than six lakh domestic and international devotees between December 19, 2023, and January 12, 2024, offering free delivery of prasad, commemorative coins, temple replicas and idols of the Ram temple, charging a facilitation fee from Indian and overseas devotees. Through his website, the accused collected payments via multiple digital gateways, amassing ₹10.49 crore in transactions, ₹3.85 crore of which was for prasad delivery alone, while the rest came from sales of other items. The issue was flagged by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust authorities, who noticed suspicious online activity. A police case has been registered under various sections related to cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of items, IT act etc. The accused was arrested when he returned from a foreign trip of the United States. The Ayodhya Police successfully refunded ₹2.15 crore to 3,72,520 victims, marking the largest such refund in a cyber fraud case in the State. In recent weeks, the state police intensified efforts to nab cyber fraudsters, with seven interstate accused, who were involved in cyber fraud by creating online IDs through Cricbuzz and Fairplay apps and promising to make customers play games and double their money, have also been arrested in Lucknow. Musk reignites conspiracy theory with Trump-Epstein claim With one tweet linking U.S. President Donald Trump with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Elon Musk reignites a long-running conspiracy theory of the U.S. President's far right supporters. The tech billionaire — who exited his role as a top White House advisor just last week — alleged on Thursday that the Republican leader is featured in secret government files on rich and powerful former Epstein associates. The Trump administration has acknowledged it is reviewing tens of thousands of documents, videos, and investigative material that his 'MAGA' movement says will unmask public figures complicit in Epstein's crimes. 'Time to drop the really big bomb: (Trump) is in the Epstein files,' Musk posted on his social media platform, X, as a growing feud with the president boiled over into a vicious public spat. 'That is the real reason they have not been made public.' Supporters on the conspiratorial end of Mr. Trump's base allege that Epstein's associates had their roles in his crimes covered up by government officials and others. They point the finger at Democrats and Hollywood celebrities, however, not at Trump himself, and no official source has ever confirmed that the president appears in any of the material. Mr. Musk did not reveal which files he was talking about, and offered no evidence for his claim. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Thursday (June 5) called Mr. Musk's behaviour 'an unfortunate episode', adding the Tesla tycoon is 'unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.' But the allegation prompted fresh demands for a release of the material — this time from Democrats keen on turning a MAGA conspiracy theory back on its proponents. Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking. Mr. Trump has denied spending time on Little Saint James, the private redoubt in the US Virgin Islands where prosecutors alleged Epstein sex trafficked underage girls. The President said ahead of his election last year that he would have 'no problem' releasing files related to Epstein. The administration has made public over 63,000 pages tied to the JFK assassination, but Trump has not fully followed through on the Epstein files pledge. PolitiFact investigated Mr. Trump's denials and concluded that the President had flown on Epstein's jet at least seven times, and noted that the pair attended the same parties in the 1990s. But it also said there was no evidence Mr. Trump visited Epstein's island. 'Terrific guy,' Mr. Trump, who was Epstein's neighbour in both Florida and New York, said in an early 2000s profile of Epstein. 'He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' Trump has no plans to call Musk, White House says after feud The White House squashed speculation that Donald Trump and Elon Musk would patch up their stunning public feud, saying the U.S. President had no plans to call his billionaire former aide Friday (June 6, 2025). Mr. Trump lobbed fresh insults at the South African-born Mr. Musk a day after the fiery implosion of their unlikely political marriage, saying the tech tycoon had "lost his mind." In a telling symbol of how their relationship had deteriorated, the President was even considering selling or giving away a Tesla he had bought to show support for Mr. Musk amid protests against the company. The row exploded on Thursday when Mr. Trump said he was "very disappointed" by Mr. Musk and threatened to end his government contracts, after his ex-aide criticized the President's flagship budget bill as an "abomination." Reports had emerged that Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump would speak by phone on Friday in a bid to patch up the damaging public row, but the White House scotched such speculation. "The President does not intend to speak to Musk today," a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity when asked if the feuding pair planned to speak. Mr. Trump told broadcaster ABC in a phone call earlier Friday that he was "not particularly interested" in talking to Mr. Musk. "You mean the man who has lost his mind?" ABC quoted Mr. Trump as saying. Mr. Trump, who once called Mr. Musk a "genius", branded him "crazy" on social media on Thursday. In Brief: PM Modi to attend G7 meeting in Canada Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he will attend the G7 meeting scheduled to be happening in Canada. In a post on X, Mr. Modi said he is glad to have received a call from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and that he is looking forward to meeting him. 'Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada. Look forward to our meeting at the Summit,' he said. India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests, the PM added. Supreme Court allows NEET-PG 2025 to be held in single shift on August 3 The Supreme Court on Friday permitted the National Board of Examination (NBE) in Medical Sciences to conduct the NEET-PG 2025 examination in a single shift on August 3. The postgraduate entrance examination was earlier scheduled for June 15. The court had on May 30 directed the NBE to hold the examination in a single, and not two, shifts. On June 3, the NBE filed an application seeking more time to make logistical and security arrangements, including finalising additional examination centres across the country. It suggested August 3 as a tentative date, stating that conducting the exam in a single shift would require a significant increase in the number of centres—from 450 to 900. A Bench comprising Justices P.K. Mishra and Augustine George Masih on Friday allowed the NBE's request. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
India Gazette
an hour ago
- India Gazette
SEBI attaches Mehul Choksi's bank accounts, shares, MFs to recover Rs 2.1 crore dues
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 6 (ANI): Financial markets regulator SEBI has asked banks and mutual funds to attach the bank accounts and shares and mutual fund holdings of fugitive Mehul Choksi to recover Rs 2.10 crore dues for violating insider trading rules linked to shares of Gitanjali Gems. The dues of Rs 2.1 crore include Rs 1.5 crore penalty, Rs 60 lakh as interest (February 2022 to May 2025 at 1 per cent per month) and Rs 1,000 as recovery cost. On May 15, 2025, SEBI sent Mehul Choksi a notice asking him to pay the dues in 15 days. Failure to do so may result in freezing his assets, SEBI mentioned. 'Whereas no amount has been paid by the Defaulter and there is sufficient reason to believe that the Defaulter may dispose of the amounts/proceeds in the Bank Accounts held with your Bank and realization of amount due under the Recovery Certificate would in consequence be delayed or obstructed,' SEBI wrote in its letter to the banks. A similar letter has also been written to mutual funds in India, asking them to attach his demat accounts and mutual fund holdings. SEBI also asked banks to ensure no debit is made from the defaulter's accounts, if any. Banks have also been asked to furnish details of the accounts, including lockers held by the defaulter and a bank statement for the latest year. Similarly, depositories and mutual funds have been directed to immediately provide details of accounts/folios held by the defaulter, a copy of account statements, and confirmation of attachment of the said accounts/folios. Mehul Choksi is a fugitive Indian businessman who is a key accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. His nephew, Nirav Modi, is also wanted by the probe agencies in the scam. The duo are alleged to have defrauded the bank of more than Rs 14,000 crore. PNB unearthed the scam on January 25, 2018, and submitted a fraud report to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 29. Subsequently, an arrest warrant was issued against Choksi. He is wanted in India for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and dishonesty, including delivery of property, corruption, and money laundering. Choksi fled the country in January 2018 to Antigua and Barbuda. A court in Belgium had, in April this year, denied Choksi's bail plea. He was arrested in Belgium in April following an official request from Indian authorities. (ANI)
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
PNB cuts lending rate to 50 basis point in line with RBI's policy
Hours after RBI's jumbo rate cut, state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday announced up to 50 basis points reduction in lending rate, a move which will help existing and new borrowers. Other banks are also expected to make similar announcements soon. "Great News for Our Valued Customers! Punjab National Bank Makes Your EMIs More Affordable! Following the repo rate cut (6.00% - 5.50%), Punjab National Bank has reduced its RLLR by 50 bps, effective from June 9, 2025," PNB said in a post on X. With the reduction in the benchmark repo-linked benchmark lending rates (RBLR), the home loan of the bank will start from 7.45 per cent while vehicle loans from 7.8 per cent per annum. Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut interest rates by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points, and unexpectedly reduced the cash reserve ratio for banks to make available more money to lend in a bid to boost the economy. The RBI's six-member monetary policy committee, headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra and consisting of three external members, voted five to one to lower the benchmark repurchase or repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent. It also cut the cash reserve ratio by 100 basis points to 3 per cent, adding Rs 2.5 lakh crore to already surplus liquidity in the banking system. With the latest reduction, the RBI has now cut interest rates by a total of 100 basis points in 2025, starting with a quarter-point reduction in February -- the first cut since May 2020 -- and another similar-sized cut in April. The central bank, at the same time, changed its monetary policy stance from 'accommodative' to 'neutral', meaning rates could increase or decrease in future depending on incoming data, with Malhotra stating that it may have limited space for further easing.
