Congress questions CM Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra lags in DIPP startup test

It all started with a recent report released by government’s Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) which showcased rankings of states in start-ups ecosystem.

The DIPP, on December 20, came out with much-awaited ‘State Startup Rankings’ report. (Image: PTI)

Mumbai: As job creation remains to be one of the most important factors to determine the winner of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress in Maharashtra took a jibe at each other over the same on Monday. It all started with a recent report released by government’s Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) which showcased rankings of states in start-ups ecosystem. Congress leader and former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chauhan took a pot shot at the state government for not being able to make it to the top 15 in the DIPP annual ranking of Indian states. Incumbent CM Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government has been projecting the state as the ‘startup capital’ of the country. “The (state) industries department is responsible for it. But we cannot blame the industries department alone… the chief minister also is responsible for it… the government is being indifferent,” PTI quoted Chavan as saying. The DIPP, on December 20, came out with much-awaited ‘State Startup Rankings’ report, which ranks states on the basis of the policies framed for promoting startups in the state. In this report, Maharashtra, which was classified as an emerging state on the ranking indicators, remained outside the top 15 performing states’ list. According to the report, Maharashtra was ranked in the ‘emerging states’ category after states like Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Chavan also took a jibe at the recent state government for introducing the startup policy so late, which was announced during the beginning of 2018. He accused the government of seeking credit for the schemes like ‘Make in Maharashtra’ and ‘Magnetic Maharashtra’ but not paying attention to ground realities. “The state’s performance has consistently fallen in ease of doing business category too. In 2015, Maharashtra was ranked 8th, in 2016 it was on 10th position, in 2017 it slipped to 11th and now plunged to 13th in 2018,” Chavan said. “Lack of long-term policies, bickering between ruling parties have resulted in government neglecting industries in the state and that is resulting in growing unemployment,” the Congress leader added further. However, denying the allegations, state’s finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that Maharashtra was put in “emerging” state for startups category since the evaluation happened over only a few months. Mungantiwar further justified his government as per the ranking with 2,787 startups, Maharashtra has the highest number of startups in India. “Maharashtra attracted investment the most in the country and was the leading state when it came to the industrial growth rate in the country,” the BJP leader said in response to Congress’ allegations.