Bharat Forge and the Maharashtra government on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a multi-product special economic zone (SEZ), spread over 2,000 hectares at Khed in Pune with an initial investment of Rs 2,000 crore. |
The investment will be scaled up to Rs 9,000 crore over the next five to seven years. |
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The SEZ will be set up through the special purpose vehicle in which Bharat Forge will have 74 per cent stake. |
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The state government will hold 24 per cent equity through its industrial infrastructure arm, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). |
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It will not bring in any cash and instead will offer land and other infrastructure facilities. |
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The MoU was signed by the chairman of Bharat Forge group Baba Kalyani and state industry secretary VK Jairath in the presence of chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at the Mantralya, state government's headquarters. |
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"Though initially SEZ will be spread over 2,000 hectares, we will like to expand it to 5,000 hectares and the state government in principal has agreed to our proposal," Kalyani said. |
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"Initially, we invest around Rs 2,000 crore for creating the infrastructure in the SEZ. As we get additional land, we expect to invest around Rs 9,000 crore over next five to seven ears," he added. |
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Bharat Forge will set up vocational training schools and try to upgrade the schools in Khed taluka. The objective is to train children of those people whose land is being acquired for the SEZ. "We will help them find jobs in the manufacturing units which will come up in the SEZ," Kalayani said. |
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According to him, the SEZ is likely to attract the investment of around Rs 25,000 crore and create around 1.20 lakh jobs in the region. |
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The major challenge before the SEZ is shortage of skilled man power. "There is shortage of around 15,000 engineers in Pune and this will be doubled by next year. An engineering college will be set up in the SEZ in association with Warwick University from Britan to overcome this problem," Kalyani said. |
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