‘Lost to Bengaluru, Hyderabad…’: Maharashtra Deputy CM Fadnavis on lack of start-up culture boom in Mumbai

High rentals and cost of living has made Mumbai unaffordable over the years for companies and businesses to stay, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said at the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum, held in Mumbai on Thursday. 

“It was quite unaffordable to stay in Mumbai for businesses. That is why they went to Bangalore and Hyderabad,” he said. The former CM of the state, however, added that the CM Eknath Shinde-led government is creating infrastructure that will help Mumbai regain its lost ground.  

“The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link is a 22 km bridge, which is being built right now will be dedicated to the nation. It will connect Mumbai to the hinterlands,” Fadnavis said. 

He also said that the Maharashtra government is working on building several data centres and claimed that 65 per cent of India’s data capacity is being developed in Navi Mumbai. 

The Deputy CM also highlighted Maharashtra is the real start-up capital. “Out of 80,000 registered start-ups, 50,000 are in Maharashtra. Around 25 unicorns are in the state,” he said, adding that the government has rolled out several start-ups and fintech policies taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s start-up movement. 

He also revealed that Rs 1,000 crore was invested in fintech start-ups through government initiatives. “Overall, 8,000 fintech firms have benefited,” he noted.  

In September last year, Fadnavis called Maharashtra the fintech capital of the country. Fintech will drive the state’s economy and contribute to its growth even more in the days to come, he had stated in the event. He also noted that Maharashtra was the first state to launch a fintech policy. “Under this policy, we developed the entire ecosystem with smart centers, a fintech registry, a fintech API sandbox,” he said.
 

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