Davos (Switzerland), January 20 (ANI): Carrying forward the momentum garnered at last year's participation, Maharashtra, on day 1 of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, signed 19 MoUs representing a cumulative investment of approximately Rs 14.5 lakh crore (USD 173 billion), with an estimated employment generation potential of over 15 lakh jobs across sectors. These outcomes underscore strong global confidence in Maharashtra's consumer markets, infrastructure readiness, and long-term growth fundamentals.

Maharashtra commenced its participation at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2026 by inaugurating the state pavilion, marking the beginning of a focused week of high-level engagements aimed at advancing Maharashtra's ambition of becoming a five trillion-dollar economy, guided by the vision of Viksit Maharashtra 2047.

The Maharashtra Pavilion has been positioned as a platform for structured dialogue and investment realization, reflecting the State's approach to Davos, as a forum for enabling sustained capital deployment across industry, consumer markets, hospitality and infrastructure, including core and digital.

Throughout the day, the Chief Minister held a series of business-to-government meetings with global giants such as Coca Cola, Antora Energy, Brookfield etc., operating across consumer goods, beverages, hospitality, logistics, urban development, green steel and digital infrastructure. The discussions focused on scaling existing operations, expanding production and service capacity, strengthening supply chains, and positioning Maharashtra as a preferred base for servicing India's growing domestic and regional markets. He was joined by the Minister for Industries, Uday Samant and senior officials from CMO, Industry investment and Services Department, MMRDA

The Industry, Investment and Services Department, nodal for all industrial development and investments in the state of Maharashtra, coordinated investments worth Rs 3.13 lakh crore (~USD 38 billion), with potential to create more than 4.4 lakh employment opportunities in the state in the sectors of Food Processing, Renewable Energy, Green Steel, EV and Automotive, Shipbuilding, and Digital Infrastructure. With a single window and an investment cell (MAITRI) in place, the Industries department is geared to implement investments

A distinctive feature of Maharashtra's success as an investment destination is the concerted efforts of various departments coming together under the leadership of its dynamic Chief Minister, ensuring that the investment intentions are translated on ground with inter-departmental coordination and fast track approvals in mission mode. A staggering three-quarters of the MoUs signed last year (January 2025) have progressed to implementation. This has been exemplified by investors such as Carlsberg Group, which has appreciated the state's expedited support and has built on investments made over the past year with an additional investment intention of Rs 500 crore (USD 60 Million) crores. Similarly, Skoda Auto Volkswagen, an existing manufacturer in Pune, Maharashtra, announced Rs 12,000 crore (USD 1.44 Bn)

The Lodha Group signed its maiden investments in Data Centers in the state worth Rs 1 lac Crore (USD 12 Billion). Furthermore, a landmark investment of Rs 1.1 lakh crore (~USD 12 Billion) by Arcelor Mittal in Sustainable Steel manufacturing was also announced. The Industry Department also received an intention from Surjagad Ispat for Rs 20 thousand crore, with employment potential of 8,000 people in the rural region of Gadchiroli. Yoki Green Energy also signed an MoU worth Rs 4000 crore for renewable energy in the state

Maharashtra has been a significant contributor to the Government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision, especially in maritime and defence. Maharashtra's push for a robust maritime economy saw a philip with a strategic investment intention from Yeoman Marine Services worth Rs 1050 crore (USD 120 million) in shipbuilding and maritime sectors.

MMRDA, the premier urban development agency for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, responsible for upgrading the city to global standards, today signed MoUs worth approximately Rs11 lakh crore (USD 137 billion) with leading global infrastructure firms, including Brookfield (Canada), Sumitomo (Japan), among others. The SBG Group signed investment intention worth Rs 3.3 lac Crore (USD 45 Billion). In addition, MMRDA signed a strategic partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) along with the University of California, Berkeley (USA), Sembcorp (Singapore), Technical University of Munich (Germany), and Urban Futures Collective Consortium (UK), to support the long-term, collaborative development of Mumbai as a future-ready global city.

With an emphatic first day, Maharashtra under the leadership of its dynamic Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is looking forward to top the day 1 at Davos with strategic investments across AI, Quantum Computing, Digital Infrastructure, Shipping, EV, Renewables, Fintech, Logistics and Infrastructure and other sectors through the week and have focused dialogue with global leaders in shaping the Maharashtra of tomorrow. (ANI)