Maharashtra still tops in attracting FDI:

Maharashtra continues to attract significant foreign direct investment, securing $8.5 billion in the June quarter. Despite this, the State is seeing a slowdown in project investments compared to States like Gujarat and Jharkhand. Maharashtra’s FDI inflows are bolstered by the presence of major business headquarters, contributing to its 31% share of national FDI equity inflows. Maharashtra continues to attract more FDI though it is losing out on project investments. According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry the State was successful in attracting foreign direct investments worth $8.5 billion in the June quarter. While Karnataka was a distant third in attracting investments worth $ 2.3 billion and Gujarat was third with inflows worth $1.02 billion during the quarter.

An analysis over a longer period shows that the pace of growth in such flows has slowed down in FY’2023-24 for Maharashtra posting a modest growth of 2%, while flows in States like Gujarat and Jharkhand posted an over 50% growth. Maharashtra- One of the most industrialized States in the country houses headquarters of many large business houses whose operations could be located in other States. But FDI flows get recorded in the State where the headquarters are located. This is one of the reasons cited for the State which accounts for 31% of the FDI equity inflows, for such high FDI flows. In terms of getting local funding for projects, while Gujarat accounted for 14.7% of the Rs 3.9 lakh crores financed by banks and financial institutions in 2023-24, Maharashtra accounted for 11.7%, a study by the Reserve Bank of India showed.