Magnetic Maharashtra summit: On day one, state gets Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop, Rs 60,000-crore investment from Reliance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the ambitious three-day long “Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018” conclave in Mumbai on Sunday. With the tagline #MadeForBusiness, the conclave is billed as one of the biggest event of its kind after the prime minister’s ‘Make In India’ initiative, launched in February 2016 in Mumbai. This is Maharashtra’s first Global Investors Summit and the state intends to sign nearly 5,000 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore (close of $156 billion) that is expected to generate employment for 35 lakh people. The summit is being held from 18 to 20 February. Maharashtra industry minister Subhash Desai told LiveMint that the bulk of these agreements would be signed in textiles, engineering, food processing, defence manufacturing and electric vehicles. Of these, 61 percent agreements, worth more than Rs 4 lakh crore are under implementation, added the minister. With the summit, the state hopes to strengthen Maharashtra’s position as “gateway” for all industrial development in India. [caption id=“attachment_4357705” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narendra Modi inaugurating Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018 summit. Image courtesy: Twitter/ @Dev_Fadnavis[/caption] To support new-age young entrepreneurs, the summit will also host a competition ‘Magnetic Maharashtra Start-ups Under 30’, with prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for top three innovative start-ups. Following are the major investment announcements made at the conclave on Sunday: Reliance to invest 60,000 crore in state  Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Sunday announced plans to launch the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ in the state with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore and collaboration of over 20 global conglomerates. He said that the initiative will take forward the flagship Jio Movement with the ambitious new plan for India and Maharashtra by setting up the country’s first-ever ‘Integrated Industrial Development Area’ in the state over the next 10 years. “The company will make Maharashtra the birthplace and cradle of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in India, which is a convergence of disruptive technologies in the physical, digital and biological spheres. It is going to transform the world and our society in unimaginable ways,” Ambani was quoted as saying by IANS. Some of the global companies who have already agreed to co-invest with Reliance include: CISCO, Siemens, Corning, HP, Dell, Nokia and Nvidia, he said. So far, Reliance has invested Rs 2,50,000 crore in India, of which the highest share - Rs 22,000 crore - came to Maharashtra, said the Reliance Industries chairman. Mahindra to invest Rs 2,325 crore The Mahindra Group announced over Rs 2,300 crore investment in the state in three projects of which as much as Rs 1,700 crore will be spent towards creating an entertainment destination at Kandivali, a northwestern suburb of Mumbai. Addressing the Magnetic Maharashtra investors summit, Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra said his software company Tech Mahindra will invest Rs 125 crore to create an all-green tech hub in Nagpur that will create at least 2,500 jobs. On the Rs 1,700-crore investment announced in the city, Mahindra said, “We are exploring to set up a unique film-centric entertainment destination on our land at Kandivali in the city as Mumbai is the heart of Hindi film industry. This will create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and we plan to spend Rs 1,700 crore on this venture.” He also siad the company will invest another Rs 500 crore in the state for which his group has “executed an agreement with Maharashtra for an investment of Rs 500 crore under the new electric vehicle policy.” Pact to build Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop  The Virgin Group on Sunday signed an “ intent agreement ” with Maharashtra to build a hyperloop transportation system between Mumbai and Pune, which aims to reduce the travel time between the two mega cities to 20 minutes from the three hours at present. “We have signed an agreement with Maharashtra to build a Virgin Hyperloop between Mumbai and Pune, beginning with an operational demonstration track in the region,” Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson said Details such as the project cost and a time-line are yet to be announced. The hyperloop route will be a fully electric system and will have the capability travel up to 1,000 kilometre per hour. The first hyperloop route will link central Pune with Mumbai as well as the Navi Mumbai international airport, the foundation stone for which was laid by Modi on Sunday evening. Navi Mumbai International Airport Modi laid the foundation stone of the Rs 16,000-crore Navi Mumbai International Airport and inaugurated the country’s largest container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, constructed at a cost of Rs 4,719 crore. The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) will be the second international aviation hub for the financial capital, presently served by the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport that has almost reached saturation point. The NMIAL, a greenfield airport, will be constructed in the public-private partnership mode on 1,160 hectares on the mainland in Navi Mumbai, across the Mumbai harbour, with the advantage of the upcoming Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, a Special Economic Zone. Aviation sector  Posting orders for over 900 aircraft during the past one year, the aviation sector in India is poised for a huge growth in the coming years, Modi said on Sunday. Presently, there are a total of around 450 aircraft operating in the country, but that will be more than tripled with over 900 new aircraft to be deployed over the next few years in the country, he said. With inputs from agencies  Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.