Maharashtra government holds road show in Bengaluru; eyes Rs 95,000 crore investments in IT sector

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government held a road show in Bengaluru on Tuesday, seeking investments into the information technology and IT-enabled services sectors.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC)'s joint chief executive Anil Bhandari said the state, known to be one of the most industrially-developed in India, is targeting investments of Rs 95,000 crore in the sector as part of its IT policy adopted last year.

An event was organised at a hotel in Bengaluru -- which is referred as India's Silicon Valley for its IT sector prowess -- in association with industry lobby Assocham.

The event was attended by senior officials from companies like IBM, Adobe, Wipro, J P Morgan Chase and LinkedIn, as per the agenda. It also had executives from several realty companies and brokerages.

Maharashtra's development commissioner for industries Deependra Singh Kushwah said the state is looking for investments in emerging technologies like internet of things, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and augment and virtual reality, as per an Assocham statement.

"With various business-friendly policies, great connectivity, uninterrupted power and water supply and most importantly very talented workforce that will further drive the growth of the IT and ITeS sector in Maharashtra," Kushwah added.

Bhandari said the state, known to be the data centre hub of the country, is targeting to double the capacity in the next 4-5 years and also emphasized its potential to become a hub for global capability centres.

At present, several IT, ITeS and GCC (global capability centre) players are operating from Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.

Assocham southern region council's chairman and Toyota Kirloskar's executive advisor T R Parsuraman said the chamber is delighted to welcome representatives from Maharashtra to explore opportunities in Karnataka.