Want to make Maharashtra a logistics hub of India: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Wednesday said he wants to make the state a logistics hub of the country to tap the growing investments in the sector following the introduction of GST.

The entire country has been integrated to become a single market place now and logistics is the fastest growing sector in the country, Fadnavis said at an USIBC event here.

"We have also been investing to help the logistics sector and I want Maharashtra to be the logistics hub of India," he said.

He said 60 per cent of the state's hinterland is now connected with the country's largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust located in the Mumbai metropolitan region.

The state is also creating three dry ports at Wardha, Nashik and Jalna, from where farmers and other exporters will be able to directly send goods that shall ship out from JNPT, he said.

The chief minister said the state is also constructing the country's longest expressway, a 700-km road connecting its capital with Nagpur, which will also aid the logistics sector.

Urging investors to invest in the state, Fadnavis also said the state is at the forefront of the digital economy.

He said there is abundant supply of human capital through educational sector concentration in places like Pune, that makes Maharashtra a leader in the new economy.

Fadnavis said US-India trade ties are essential because of geopolitical realities in the world and also because of the shared values of freedom and democracy between the two countries.