Nagpur: Industries minister Uday Samant on Thursday rejected claims that industries are relocating out of Maharashtra, saying not a single industrial unit has left the state. He added that reports of cancellation of registration of over 36,000 companies were about a routine govt process for non-compliance and not a physical relocation.Addressing a news conference during an official tour of Gadchiroli, Samant said the opposition was incorrectly quoting figures cited in a Lok Sabha reply to malign the industries department and mislead the public.Samant said, “The 36,211 companies whose registrations were cancelled in Maharashtra over the past five years had not moved out of the state but were struck off under a routine central govt process for firms that failed to file financial documents on time or remained inactive for long.” Of these, 14,613 were in business services, 6,582 in manufacturing, 4,196 in trading and 2,356 in construction.The minister said even in Delhi 34,800 company registrations were cancelled under the same process. “There were 23,100 cancellations in Uttar Pradesh and 11,200 in Gujarat over the same period. In fact, over 2.04 lakh such cancellations were recorded nationwide,” said Samant.He emphasised that “not a single company that has signed an MoU with the industries department has shut down”. Figures for firms in services, transport, trade and other sectors are being clubbed with industrial companies to mislead people, Samant added.On investment, Samant said Maharashtra ranked first in the country in foreign direct investment for the past three to three-and-a-half years, and that 75-80% of MoUs signed at Davos are under implementation, the highest such rate in the country. “The recent GCC summit is expected to bring in about Rs50,000 crore of investment and create jobs for nearly five lakh youths,” he said.Denying claims that 40 industries had moved out of the Chakan industrial belt, Samant said he would personally meet industrialists there on Aug 16 to understand their problems and take corrective steps.BOX‘Gadchiroli Steel Hub To Draw Huge Investment’Samant said the steel hub coming up in Gadchiroli district will draw large industrial investment and create jobs, alongside a skill development push to train local youths for industry needs. He said farmers and local residents will be taken into confidence on steel hub and skill centre work, so that the benefits of industrial growth reach locals through an inclusive process.
