Videocon project sinks in politics

Besides, the Peasants’ and Workers’ Party (PWP) — which has a significant presence in Navi Mumbai and Raigad district — has organised a morcha of farmers on August 12 to demand the deal be cancelled. PWP MLA Vivek Patil has threatened to gherao officials of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) to protest against the project.

It is not expected to be a surprise if Maharashtra loses the high-tech project — the first such planned in India after the Central government announced the semiconductor policy last year — if it continues to face stiff opposition considering Videocon is flooded with offers from other states and even from outside India.

“Just now, I received a letter from the West Bengal government giving an offer. We have got offers from Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. They have offered land and other facilities at cheaper rates when compared to Maharashtra,” Videocon group chief Venugopal Dhoot told The Indian Express.

The plan is to create a joint venture project involving Cidco, the infrastructure development arm of the Maharashtra government, and Videocon for setting up a TFT-LCD semiconductor project. The state body will have a 26 per cent stake, Videocon 34 per cent and the rest will be through a public issue.

“I will try to convince them again. I would like to set up the project in Maharashtra. I’m a Maharashtrian. My first preference is my home state,” Dhoot said. “But if I’m unable to convince, I might think

of shifting the project somewhere outside the state.”

Under the state government’s proposal, the valuation of 100 acres of Cidco at Navi Mumbai required for the project is Rs 300 crore, out of which Rs 260 crore will be Cidco Cidco’s contribution and Rs 40 crore will be received in cash. The project would receive central government subsidies worth Rs 2,000 crore apart from land from the Maharashtra government.

When the central government announced the policy last year, it talked about attracting investments of over $10 billion, besides generating employment and also announced a host of incentives. However, last year global tech consultancy groups like Gartner had predicted that global semi-conductor majors would keep away from India at least for a year and instead look at the design capacity of India instead of putting up mega projects. “Economic viability of such high-tech project is the issue. Without subsidies and grants, such projects can’t take off,” said an industry expert.