Centre okays Rs 5 bn to make Ranjangaon electronics hub

The Central government has approved a Rs 5 billion project to make Ranjangaon in Pune an electronics manufacturing cluster, a move that is being seen as an attempt to make up for Maharashtra losing back-to-back big-ticket projects to Gujarat. Announcing the project, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said this week the cluster will attract major investments from manufacturers, generate thousands of jobs and put the state on par with other electronics production hubs in the country. The announcement came amid a political slugfest over mining giant Vedanta switching to Gujarat for its Rs 1.53 trillion chip factory and Maharashtra also losing out to the neighbouring state on the Rs 220 billion Tata-Airbus transport aircraft plant. While former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray has criticised the Eknath Shinde-led government for letting go of these projects, Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde has stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have assured big projects for the state. “To make Maharashtra into an electronics hub, we have approved an Electronics Manufacturing Cluster project in Ranjangaon, Pune. The total investment of the government on this EMC will be about Rs 500 crore,” Chandrasekhar said at a briefing. See also: Centre releases Rs. 1764 Cr grant for four states PM Modi to launch projects worth 156.70 bn on Gujarat visit