Maharashtra always number 1: Congress refutes Fadnavis' FDI claim

Mumbai: Staying true to politics tradition by engaging in a war-of-words, the ruling BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA) and the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A. alliance) debated over a new topic- the foreign direct investments (FDI) that Maharashtra has received over the years.

MVA had been targeting the Eknath Shinde government over mega-projects slipping out of Maharashtra’s hand and landing in Gujarat’s.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP said that Maharashtra leads in FDI, however, the Congress has contradicted this statement.

“Maharashtra leads in FDI with a staggering 52.46 per cent of India's total investment. Maharashtra which is consecutively ranked No. 1 for last 2 years in FDI, has now secured a maximum investment of 52.46 per cent of India's total FDI in the first quarter of the financial year 2024-2025.

"With an unparalleled investment of Rs 70,795 crore between April and June 2024, Maharashtra has once again affirmed its position as India's top destination for foreign investment,” said Fadnavis.

According to Fadnavis, after Maharashtra, the second spot is held by Karnataka (Rs 19,059 crore), followed by Delhi (Rs 10,788 crore), Telangana (Rs 9,023 crore), Gujarat: (Rs 8,508 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 8,325 crore), Haryana (Rs 5,818 crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 370 crore) and Rajasthan (Rs 311 crore).

However, so far, there are no comments from the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is the state Finance and Planning Minister.

In a post in X, Fadnavis said, “Maharashtra alone has investments more than the combined sum of all the above put together. In a nutshell, out of the total FDI Rs 1,34,959 crore that came into India, Rs 70,795 crore i.e 52.46 per cent came into Maharashtra alone.”

Reeling out facts and figures, Fadnavis said: “Previously, In 2022-23 Maharashtra got Rs 1,18,422 crore more than Karnataka, Delhi, and Gujarat's sum combined together and in 2023-24 Rs 1,25,101 crore, more than twice that of Gujarat and greater than the combined total of Gujarat and Karnataka.”

Fadnavis went on to add that when he was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra they welcomed Rs 3,62,161 crore of foreign investments.

"We had told from day one that we would do 5 years' work in just 2.5 years! So, in just 2 years and 3 months, we have brought in Rs 3,14,318 crore investment! And still, the second quarter numbers are yet to be out.”

Reacting to Fadnavis’ statement, state Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant said, “We have been consistently saying that if the Modi-government had not pulled and doesn't pull the rug out from under Maharashtra's feet, the state will remain at number 1 forever.”

According to him, if Fadnavis’ team had given a little more thought before tweeting, then this embarrassment could have been avoided.

"An inference can be drawn from this tweet of Fadnavis that under his government, Maharashtra was lagging behind than under the leadership of Shinde.

"What was not achieved in five years under the leadership of Fadnavis is understood to have been achieved in two and a half years under the leadership of Shinde.

"According to the post, Rs 3,62,161 crore of FDI came in during the 5 years of the Fadnavis government and Rs 3,14,318 crores so far have come under the leadership of Shinde. Be that as it may, we were also of the same opinion that Maharashtra had gone backwards during the Fadnavis government.” claimed Sawant.

According to him, under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, during the two and a half years of MVA government from October 2019 to June 2022, Maharashtra received a total investment of Rs 3,29,291 crore.

“It means that despite the double-engine government, the number of MVA still could not be reached by the Shinde government,” said Sawant.

“If during April to March 2020-21 the Modi government had not sent 78 per cent of the total investment in computer hardware and software to Gujarat, the investment in our time would have increased by almost Rs 1 lakh crore, and then the Shinde government would not have gone anywhere near MVA even now.

"It is equally true that if the Modi government does not cast an evil eye, Maharashtra will progress even more than this," said Sawant.