Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra, today announced the state government's intention of extending fiscal benefits enjoyed by private IT parks to bio-technology (BT) parks and bringing the two on par for furthering the growth of the state as an IT/ BT destination.According to a recent study by the Reserve Bank of India, Maharashtra contributes to 20% of industrial investments in the country thus making it the numero uno investment destination in India. "The state is seeing increased competition from neighbouring states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. To retain the No 1 investment destination, we will change the attitude from red tape to greeting corporates with red carpet," Deshmukh said.Maharashatra accounts for 13% of the country's GDP and the average per capita income of the state is 40% higher than that of the country. "The state attracted foreign direct investment of $14 billion, which is equivalent to the FDI attracted by Tamil Nadu. Karnataka and Gujarat together," V Jairath, secretary ofIndustries of government of Maharashtra, said.With IT getting a bouquet of fiscal and non-fiscal benefits from the government, Suresh Kalmadi, Member of Parliament and chairman of Pune Vyaspeeth, requested the government to treat BT on par with IT. Agreeing to the request, Deshmukh said: "My government will remove this disparity to ensure that IT and BT parks are at par."Deshmukh was in town to inaugurate a two-day seminar - Hi-Tech Pune Maharashtra, where IT meets BT, a two-day seminar organised by Pune Vyaspeeth and the government of Maharashatra.
