Trade and Commerce in Maharashtra
Maharashtra occupies the western and central part of the country and has a long coastlinestretching nearly 720 km along the Arabian Sea. The Sahyadri mountain ranges provide a natural backbone to the State on the west, while the Satpuda hills along the north and Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the east serve as its natural borders. The State is surrounded by Gujarat to theNorth West, Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast, Karnataka to the south and Goa to the south west. So it has well connectivity from the trade point of view.
Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and the financial capital of India, houses theheadquarters of most of the major corporate & financial institutions. India’s main stock exchanges& capital market and commodity exchanges are located in Mumbai.
Maharashtra is one of the highly industrialised states. It is pioneer in Small ScaleIndustries and continues to attract industrial investments from both, domestic as well as foreigninstitutions. It is a major IT growth centre.
INDUSTRY:
Maharashtra is one of the most industrialised states in the country. The State has identifiedindustrial sectors like Auto, Engineering, Electronics, Textile and Defence as focus sectorsconsidering the national and international trends and potential of the resources in the State.
Recently, the State has formulated Retail Trade Policy-2016, Electronics Policy-2016, SingleWindow Policy-2016, Policy for SC / ST Entrepreneurs and Policy for IT & ITeS-2015. MAITRI(Maharashtra Industry, Trade and Investment facilitation) cell has been set up at Mumbai tofacilitate clearances and help in expediting setting up of industrial units. Such cell has also been setup at each Regional Headquarter to assist MSMEs.8.1.1 The State has been proactive in expediting reforms and clearances for setting up andrunning of industries. To showcase the strengths of manufacturing sector in India to the world, a‘Make in India’ event was organised in Mumbai. The event created a renewed enthusiasm andoverwhelming response from the investors for making investments in the State.
Foreign Money Involvement:
In Nagpur, a cargo hub of international proportions is coming up, the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport or MIHAN. This project aims to handle cargo of heavy nature, especially being imported from Middle East Asia and South East Asia. This project is also aimed to provide 10,000 crores of Indian rupees to develop the Special Economic Zone or SEZ for many companies dealing in IT technology. Till date, this development project would be probably the largest one in India.
Many foreign and Indian automotive companies are present in Maharashtra such as General Motors India, Fiat, Audi, Bamford, Mercedes-Benz, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata, Skoda Auto and Volkswagen. Most of the well known IT companies of India have their presence in Pune, making it an IT hub, prominent being Wipro, TCS, Honeywell, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, IBM, Microsoft and Cognizant.
Manufacturing
In Maharashtra, cotton textiles are probably the largest and the oldest set ups of manufacturing industry. Places like Mumbai, Solapur, Nagpur, Amravati and Akola are known for these factories. Woolen products are seen more in Solapur and Nagpur. Agriculture is traditionally an important sector in Maharashtra mostly in the areas of Dhule and Jalgaon, with Dhule being known for processing of edible oils, Kolhapur, Sangli-Miraj industrial area for sugar refining and Ahmadnagar. Canning of fruits and their preservation for transport is seen mostly in Bhusawal, Nagpur, Mumbai and Ratnagiri. Products manufactured from environment forests, such as bamboo, timber, tendu leaves and sandalwood are found in many places in Maharashtra. Small scale units for food grains processing is found in many places also.
The complex of Pune and Mumbai is known for heavy industrial concentration, aided by advanced technology. When in 1976, the first oil wells in the off shore region were set up as part of the petrochemical sector, the rapid rise of this sector has been evident. Various other important industrial outputs like agricultural implements, oil refining, rubber products, equipments for transportation, lathes, compression machines, machineries for sugar industries, refrigerators, type writers, televisions and other electronic equipments like radios.
Eastern part of the state has cities like Bhandara, Chandrapur and Nagpur are areas with coal used industries, besides the units involved in production of ferroalloys, iron ores and manganese as well as cement. Thane and Aurangabad are also hubs for industrial development.
AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES:
The agriculture sector has always remained a focal point of our economy. It embodies thethree thrust areas viz. promotion of inclusive growth, enhancement in rural income and sustenanceof food security. Since 1960, after the ‘green revolution’, the country has not witnessed any majortechnological breakthrough in agriculture. The food safety net for the millions of citizens requiresenhanced agricultural production and productivity with special attention towards pulses, oilseeds,fruits and vegetables which are essential for nutritional security. Various schemes are beingimplemented to improve performance in agriculture.
The state is the major producer of oilseeds, groundnut, sunflower, soyabean etc. The state also produces cash crops like cotton, sugarcane, turmeric and vegetables. The state also has a vast area under horticulture cultivation. As agriculture sector in Maharastra as well as in India depends upon monsoon. So plenty of dams are constructed in the state.The main food crops of Maharashtra are mangoes, grapes, bananas, oranges, wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, and pulses. Cash crops include groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, and tobacco.
Large areas of the state have been brought under fruit cultivation. The fruits which have added to the treasury of the state are the Nagpur oranges, oranges of Bathplug, the Alphonso Mangoes and the grapes of Nashik.
Most Effective Cities and their Contributions in trade:
Mumbai is said to be the financial capital of India as well as the capital of Maharashtra. It has the headquarters of many financial organizations, banks with major spread, insurance sectors, airlines and even the oldest stock exchange of Asia is present in Mumbai, known as Bombay Stock Exchange. Various software campuses have been established in Nagpur, Aurangabad, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Nasik. Maharashtra has grown on to secure the second place in terms of export of products from software industry, with more than 18,000 crores annually. This is probably around 30% of the total exports in software in the country, with about 1200 organizations having been found in the state. The port of Navi Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the busiest in the country. Busiest airport in India, as well as in South Asia, in terms of volume of passengers is the Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. Pune has also grown on to establish itself among the top 10 best cities of the country. Known for the IT companies and educational institutions, Pune is also named as Oxford of the East, purely based on the high level of education, mostly catered to by University of Pune.
Maharashtra coast has become a recognized place for building ships since long. Various companies have their operations in shipyards such as Rajapur Shipyards in Rajapur and Bharati Shipyard in Ratnagiri, apart from the Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai, which is government owned.
The largest in the world, Bollywood is the film industry of India, found in Mumbai. Maharashtra also has the distinction of being the first state to generate electricity from coal and electricity from nuclear action, both these having about 13% and 17% shares respectively. Jatropha is being cultivated nowadays in large scale, where the project has been launched to identify sites for such plantations.
In the district of Ahmednagar, there is a village known as Ralegan Siddhi, which has become an environmental conservation model.
Agriculture Produce Market Complex (APMC), Vashi
CIDCO envisaged the importance of agricultural sector in the contribution of overall economic development of the region. Thirteen major wholesale Agricultural Produce Markets from Mumbai were shifted to APMC Vashi. This market complex was developed in phases and first become operational in 1991 and completed in 1996. Necessary facilities of godowns, offices, banks, restaurants, post and telegraph offices are provided to facilitate the trade of agricultural produce.
Divided into different separate sections on the basis of the commodities, the APMC provides separate markets for Fruits, Vegetables, sugar, jiggery and kanda-batata market. The APMC Market is very old and had been given a very different identity to Navi Mumbai city. It is also one of biggest agricultural market in Asia.
In morning session, this market area is very crowded since many farmers, coolies, truck- drivers, small sellers, agents etc. come over here to sell and buy fresh vegetables, fruits etc. Many trucks from different areas of Maharashtra like Nasik, Pune, Sangli, Satara and many more are come over here to unload their fruits and vegetables.
Salient Features
- Winner of Prime Minister’s Award for Implemented Urban Design Projects.
- An estimated annual trade turnover of Rs. 60 billion.
- Offers around 1 lakh jobs.
- Built on a 7.92 hectare plot, the Onion & Potato Market has 238 shop-cum-godowns, a large auction hall and a four-storeyed central facility building
5.The Processed Produce Market has 660 shop-cum-godowns, and a five-storeyed central office building with 9,947 sq. m of built-up space, housing 272 traders’ offices
- The APMC also has another 412 shop-cum-godowns, and a large central facility building with 15,755 sq. m. of built-up space, housing 356 traders’ offices
Vegetable & Fruit Market
The wholesale vegetable and fruit markets have also been shifted from Mumbai in early 1996. Thus the business of a large number of traders, their agents and workers; involving over 60,000 jobs are now located in Navi Mumbai.
Iron & Steel Market, Kalamboli
On the lines of the APMC, the wholesale traders in Iron & Steel have also been shifted to Kalamboli from Mumbai. Kalamboli was considered ideal location for this due to availability of transport infrastructure.
- Spread over 300 hectares
- Nearly 2,000 wholesale merchants and commission agents have purchased plots in the Complex
- Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Tata Iron & Steel Company (TISCO), Central Warehousing Corporation and Container Corporation of India, along with other companies, have set up large scale warehousing facilities here
- Around 40,000 jobs generated
CIDCO also has developed 12 hectare warehousing plot for wholesale storage of cement. It has allotted 6 hectares plot to Cotton Corporation, 9 hectares plot for Central Warehousing Corporation and 18 hectares plot for Food Corporation of India.CIDCO has systematically developed retail markets in every node for the benefit of consumers and residents.
Tourism:
Maharashtra offers a wide range of tourist attractions to choose from. Startin
g from Mumbai, the largest metropolis in India and also its financial capital to Ajanta and Ellora to Mahabaleshwar to Pune to Aurangabad to Lonavala, the state of Maharashtra makes its impression on the mind and soul of the visitors strongly. Other destinations are Aurangabad, Khandala, Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Matheran, Mumbai, Nasik, Pune, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Shirdi, Ganapatipule, Karla Caves etc.
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