Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with top business heads and CEOs during the three-day 'Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018' starting here on Sunday.
After inaugurating the first-ever Global Investors Summit at the MMRDA Grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Modi will interact with corporate chiefs during high tea along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
With the tagline #MadeForBusiness, the conclave is billed as one of the biggest event of its kind after the Prime Minister's 'Make In India' initiative was launched in February 2016.
The state government intends to sign nearly 5,000 MoUs, with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore (close of $156 billion) that is expected to generate employment for 35 lakh people.
Besides the business conclave, an exhibition will be held till February 23 in which flagship projects of the state government will be showcased.
These include the Mumbai Metro, Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway, Mumbai Coastal Road, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link and the Navi Mumbai International Airport, the foundation stone for which will be laid by Modi on Sunday.
Fadnavis has said that 'Magnetic Maharashtra' has been conceptualised on four main pillars -- Employment, Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Future Industries.
With the summit, the state hopes to strengthen Maharashtra's position as 'gateway' for all industrial development in India wherein the best minds, industries and government machineries converge to co-create.
Fadnavis said his government is focusing on building 'future-ready state' that features consistently among top world destinations for industrial innovation and smart manufacturing.
To support new-age young entrepreneurs, the summit will host a competition 'Magnetic Maharashtra Start-ups Under 30', with prizes of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for top three innovative start-ups.
Presently, Maharashtra contributes 15 per cent to the gross domestic product that is estimated to grow at 9.4 per cent in the current fiscal, according to officials organising the summit.
Manufacturing contributes 21.43 per cent to the state's Gross State Domestic Product, and Maharashtra has attracted 45.24 per cent of the total foreign direct investiment received by India in the first half of the fiscal.
Though Maharashtra is already acknowledged as the finance and entertainment capital of India, with 'Magnetic Maharashtra' the government hopes to catapult it on the path to make it the trade and manufacturing capital as well.
Top central and state officials and ministers, besides business icons like Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Hyperloop, Edward Monser, President, Emerson, Tonino Lamborghini, President, Tonino Lamborgini SpA, are expected to participate.
Representatives of foreign governments like Karin Roding, Sweden's State Secretary to the Minister, and Bardish Chagger, Canada's Minister of Small Business and Tourism, Waterloo, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will also be participating.
The event is being organized jointly by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and association with the Confederation of Indian Industry.
The exhibition centre will showcase automobiles/auto components, defence, food processing, IT/ITES, electronics, heavy engineering, pharmaceuticals and other sectors where scope is available in the state with opportunities in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Nagpur.
--IANS
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