The mining and quarrying sector grew at 2.9 per cent as compared to 7.2 per cent in 2017-18. (File) The contraction in the country’s manufacturing, capital goods and consumer durables has had an impact on the state’s industrial growth, which grew at the rate of 6.9 per cent in 2018-2019.According the Economic Survey submitted in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday, the industrial sector’s growth rate is lower than the 2017-2018 growth rate of 7.6 per cent.
The mining and quarrying sector grew at 2.9 per cent as compared to 7.2 per cent in 2017-18. The manufacturing sector grew at 7.1 per cent as compared to 7.7 per cent previously. Electricity, gas and water supply sector’s growth was 4.3 per cent against 6.5 per cent in 2017-18. Only the construction sector showed an increase at 9.1 per cent against 8.1 per cent in 2017-18.
“The decline in the agriculture sector has resulted in a cascading impact on other sectors too,” said state Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, explaining the dip in the growth rate of the industrial sector.
According to the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), the total number of industries in the state has been coming down. The report quoted in the survey that Maharashtra, as of 2016-17 (the latest figures available), has 27,010 industries. The number is lesser by 1,200 compared to 2015-16, which had 28,210 industries.
The closure of 1,200 industries has led to loss of jobs for 44,000 people. The translation of industrial proposals into fully commissioned projects also stands at only 44.8 per cent in the state. From 1991 to February 2019, a total of 20,323 industrial proposals valued at Rs 12.86 lakh crore were approved in the state, of which 9,098 with a total investment value of 3.06 lakh crore were commissioned.
The information technology (IT) sector continues to have the maximum investment. Between August 1991 and February 2019, there were a total of 570 approved projects with an investment of Rs 3.98 lakh crore, of this 336 projects with a cumulative investment of Rs 61,669 crore were commissioned in the state.
Fuel and metallurgy is the second biggest industry in which investments happen. The sector contributed to a total investment of Rs 28,501 crore in commissioned projects.
The Economic Survey states that during 2018, 426 projects with an investment of Rs 48,581 crore were registered, of which only 158 projects with a total investment of Rs 17,566 crore got commissioned.
The reports states that the total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into the state between 2000 and 2018 was Rs 6.9 lakh crore, which is 30 per cent of the total FDI inflow to India.
