Magnetic Maharashtra: Mukesh Ambani lines up Rs 60,000-cr investment, Anand Mahindra Rs 1,700-cr film-centric hub; Mumbai-Pune hyperloop on anvil

Magnetic Maharashtra

On the first day of Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018 summit that kickstarted on Sunday, several business tycoons including Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata and Anand Mahindra attended the event. At the state’s first investor summit in Mumbai, aimed at attracting investors to explore business opportunities in Maharashtra, many industrialists made investment promises.

Here are the highlights of major business announcements made at the summit on Sunday:

Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani said his firm Reliance Industries (RIL) and its global partners will set up the country's first integrated digital area in Maharashtra entailing investments of Rs 60,000 crore.

"Reliance along with other global companies will invest over Rs 60,000 crore in the next 10 years in Maharashtra, which will be the first integrated digital industrial area in the country," Ambani said.

Ambani said RIL has received overwhelming response from global technology companies to invest in this project. "Within a few weeks, more than 20 global companies have already agreed to invest with us. These companies include Cisco, Siemens, HP, Dell, Nokia and Nvidia among others," Ambani said.

The Mahindra Group announced over Rs 2,300 crore investment in the state in three projects of which as much as Rs 1,700 crore will be spent to create an film-centric entertainment destination at Kandivali, a northwestern suburb of Mumbai.

Addressing the Magnetic Maharashtra investor summit on Sunday, Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra said his software company Tech Mahindra will invest Rs 125 crore to create an all-green tech hub in Nagpur that will create at least 2,500 jobs.

On the Rs 1,700-crore investment announced in the city, Mahindra said, "We are exploring to set up a unique film-centric entertainment destination on our land at Kandivali as Mumbai is the heart of Hindi film industry.

The Virgin Group signed an "intent agreement" with the Maharashtra state government to build a hyperloop transportation system between Mumbai and Pune, which aims to reduce the travel time between the two mega cities to 20 minutes from the three hours at present, reports PTI.

The first hyperloop route will link central Pune with the megapolis as well as the Navi Mumbai international airport.

"We have signed an agreement with Maharashtra to build a Virgin Hyperloop between Mumbai and Pune, beginning with an operational demonstration track in the region," Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson said.

With easier access to airport gates, the loop will be able to ferry 150 million passengers every year. Details such as the project cost and a time-line are yet to be announced.