Maharashtra - Economy

Economy

Favourable economic policies in the 1970s led to Maharashtra becoming India's leading industrial state in the last quarter of 20th century. Over 41% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra's gross state domestic product for 2011 is at $224.12 billion. The state's debt is estimated to be about 209,000 crore (US$38.04 billion), i.e. about 17 percent of GDP.

In 2012 Maharashtra reported a revenue surplus of 152.49 crore (US$27.75 million), with a total revenue of 136,711.70 crore (US$24.88 billion) and a spending of 136,559.21 crore (US$24.85 billion). Maharashtra is the second most urbanised state with urban population of 42% of whole population. The headquarters to the Financial Planning Standards Board India is in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra is India's leading industrial state contributing 15% of national industrial output and over 40% of India's national revenue. 64.14% of the people are employed in agriculture and allied activities. Almost 46% of the GSDP is contributed by industry. Major industries in Maharashtra include chemical and allied products, electrical and non-electrical machinery, textiles, petroleum and allied products. Other important industries include metal products, wine, jewellery, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, machine tools, steel and iron castings and plastic wares. Food crops include mangoes, grapes, bananas, oranges, wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, and pulses. Cash crops include groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, and tobacco. The net irrigated area totals 33,500 square kilometres.

Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and the financial capital of India, houses the headquarters of all major banks, financial institutions, insurance companies in India. India's largest stock exchange Bombay Stock Exchange, the oldest in Asia, is also located in the city. After successes in the information technology in the neighboring states, Maharashtra has set up software parks in Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nashik, Now Maharashtra is the second largest exporter of software with annual exports of 18,000 crore (US$3.28 billion) and accounts for more than 30 per cent of the country's software exports, with over 1,200 software units based in the state. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai is the busiest port in India. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai is the busiest airport in South Asia as per passenger volume.

The coast of Maharashtra has been a shipbuilding center for many centuries. Companies operating shipyards in the state include Bharati Shipyard at Ratnagiri and the Rajapur Shipyards at Rajapur, apart from the state owned Mazagon Dock Limited at Mumbai.

Mumbai is home for the world's largest film industry- Bollywood, Hindi filmmaking industry. Maharashtra ranks first nationwide in coal-based thermal electricity as well as nuclear electricity generation with national market shares of over 13% and 17% respectively. Maharashtra is also introducing Jatropha cultivation and has started a project for the identification of suitable sites for Jatropha plantations.

Ralegan Siddhi is a village in Ahmednagar District that is considered a model of environmental conservation.

An international cargo hub (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur, MIHAN) is being developed at Nagpur. MIHAN will be used for handling heavy cargo coming from South-East Asia and Middle-East Asia. Project will also include 10,000 crore (US$1.82 billion) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Information Technology (IT) companies. This will be the biggest development project in India so far.

Indian and foreign automobile makers in the area include Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Skoda Auto, Fiat and Volkswagen, General Motors India, J.C.Bamford.

Pune has become an IT hub with the presence of almost all IT leaders.