Maha Govt organises round table on development of MMR as IFC

To be attended by leading bankers and London City Corporation chief

To develop the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) as an international financial hub, the Maharashtra government will organise a roundtable on Monday. Major lenders and Chairman of London City Corporation Mark Boleat will take part in the event, which will be chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Besides, SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri, ICICI Bank MD&CEO Chanda Kochchar, Axis Bank MD&CEO Shikha Sharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank Vice-Chairman and MD Uday Kotak and JP Morgan India CEO Kalpana Morparia will also take part in the roundtable. The non-government organisation, Mumbai First, is a co-organiser.

A state government official, who did not want to be named, told Business Standard: “MMR is spread over 4,355 sq km and infrastructure projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore plus are under various stages of implementation. The state undertaking Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Agency (MMRDA) is a nodal agency responsible for the balanced development of the MMR. The region has tremendous potential to be developed as IFC. The issues with regard to tax incentives, financial assistance from the Centre and the state government and the role of bankers will be discussed at the proposed roundtable.”

The official said the chief minister recently said the Bandrsa Kurla Complex (BKC) could be developed as global financial hub. According to the official, Boleat will share his experience on how London has become IFC.

McKinsey, in its recent presentation to the state government, said Mumbai needs $180 billion of capital expenditure over the next 20 years for which funding sources such as land monetisation, property tax and user charges, debt instruments, PPP funding and support from government should be laid out. It emphasized the need for the requirement of 4 times speed and investment to transform MMR.