Can Tamil Nadu and Gujarat beat Maharashtra in terms of GDP?

                        

         

                    

          With each state aiming for a one trillion-dollar economy the competition between states to become number one is increasing. While at present the Maharashtra state is leading with a heavy margin, we cannot deny the fact that other states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh are growing at a rapid pace and can replace Maharashtra in upcoming years. But the point of discussion is what happened to the state of Maharashtra which once was the epicenter of growth, what is the reason behind the lagging of the state, and how can Maharashtra continue its dominance in terms of GDP, let's discuss.

Reasons behind the lagging of Maharashtra

                           

                        

              

                        The main reason behind the lagging of Maharashtra is political instability. Over the last decade, there have been various ups and downs in the politics of Maharashtra. Any industry that wants to invest its money will look for a stable political environment in the region. As the state government changes the industrial policies that were implemented by the previous government also change which is not suitable for a healthy industrial environment. That's why the industries look for a state with a stable political environment like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and because of that many big-ticket projects like Vedanta-Foxconn, Tata-Airbus, and bulk drug park projects are shifted out of Maharashtra. Furthermore, Maharashtra lags in the ease of doing business index and every project lands into legal trouble eventually which results in delays in the implementation of projects whether it is infrastructural or industrial. Meanwhile, Maharashtra's economy lacks diversification as we all know most of the industrial growth is centered in the western part of Maharashtra. Regions like Vidarbha, Marathwada, and Khandesh are underdeveloped as compared to the western part of the state. The economy in these regions is heavily dependent on agriculture and allied industries and severely needs industrialization to grow further. These are mostly drought-prone areas and water scarcity is common here which results in poor agriculture production and poverty. Also, electricity and land prices are high as compared to other states These are the few reasons that Maharashtra really needs to work on to continue its dominance in National GDP share.  

Rise of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu 

             

                      

                      

                 Contradictory to Maharashtra the political environment in the states of Gujrat and Tamil Nadu has been stable for a long period of time as well as the ease of doing business is much better in these states as compared to Maharashtra. Gujarat state government has made policies that are suitable for industries also the state has little privilege as Narendra Modi hails from Gujrat itself. Manufacturing contributes majorly to Gujrat state GDP and the service sector is also growing rapidly. With projects like GIFT City and Dholera Smart City, the state is attracting major investments in the IT and services sector. GIFT City is on its way to becoming a major financial hub and Dholera City already has a semiconductor manufacturing plant in its pocket. Other than Gujarat Tamil Nadu is also in the race to dethrone Maharashtra from its number one spot. Tamil Nadu has always been an industrial state. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of factories in India. It is a predominant automobile hub with many automobile companies having manufacturing facilities in the state. Recently Vietnamese EV automobile giant Vinfast announced its investment in the state other than that OLA which is an Indian EV company that has a huge manufacturing facility in the state. Jaguar Land Rover also announced to manufacture of high-end Range Rover cars in the state. Tamil Nadu is already an IT hub with many IT companies situated in Chennai, Coimbatore, and other cities. It is also becoming an electronics hub as Foxconn has invested to set up an iPhone manufacturing plant in the state. SIPCOT which is an industrial authority in Tamil Nadu has always been successful in attracting major companies. Also, M.K. Stalin is a visionary leader and has been successful in creating a healthy industrial environment in the state. With all these factors both Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are growing rapidly and closing the gap with Maharashtra in terms of GDP and are able to dethrone Maharashtra from its number one spot.

How can Maharashtra save its throne? 

          

                  Maharashtra may have lagged in the past decade but it is still not over for the state. The recent Shinde-Fadnavis government is stable right now and reaching out to companies for investments. Recently many major investments have come to the state like JSW Green Mobility, Toyota-Kirloskar, Ather Energy, and Lubrizol has signed MOUs for investment in the state. Industrial nodes like AURIC city, Chakan in Pune, and Mihan in Nagpur have seen significant investments in recent times. Navi Mumbai is becoming a data center hub with many software companies establishing its data centers in the city. Pune city is third in terms of global capability centers after Banglore and Hyderabad. Many new MIDCs have been announced in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Mumbai 3.0, or NAINA city is in its initial phase and will be a major economic hub for the MMR region as well as for the state of Maharashtra. Many economic corridors are also proposed in the state like the Virar-Alibaug Multimodule corridor, industrial towns near Samruddhi expressway, Nagpur - Vijayawada economic corridor, Surat-Chennai economic corridor, and many more. The upcoming Vadhavan port near Mumbai will be a game changer not only for Maharashtra as well as for India. It will be one of the biggest ports in the world and will play a major role in exports from India. If all the above-mentioned projects meet its timeline and are implemented successfully then it will be hard to dethrone Maharashtra from its number one spot. Healthy competition between the states is always a good thing for the country but as a Maharashtrian, I would love to see the dominance of Maharashtra in terms of GDP and growth. Hope all the projects get implemented successfully and Maharashtra remains the main powerhouse of India as it has always been.