Maharashtra is the economic powerhouse of India. For FY 2025, Maharashtra’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is estimated at around Rs 45.31 trillion (lakh crores), or approximately 13.3 per cent of India’s total GDP. It hosts the financial capital of the country in Mumbai, and India’s thriving port and maritime infrastructure. Now Maharashtra also aspires to challenge Bangalore and Hyderabad in becoming a thriving IT/ITES hub in India. This has begun with Maharashtra Government announcing its Global Capacity Centre (GCC) Policy on September 30, 2025. This is exactly 9 days after the US President Donald Trump announced US$ 100,000 visa petition fee on H-1B visa. This move by Donald Trump had caused hug outrage and concerns in the Indian diplomatic and economic circles. The only solution to this move by Donald Trump was to focus on attracting offshoring investment opportunities instead of going ahead with onshore/onsite opportunities.
It is obvious that the work on Maharashtra’s GCC Policy would have started long before Donald Trump announced much debated restrictions on allowing foreigners work in the US. However, the timing of announcement by Maharashtra Government was a big statement highlighting the Government’s commitment to stand up to bullying by the US and initiate projects driving Atmanirbhar Bharat. This article discusses key highlights of Maharashtra’s GCC policy, its limitations, major challenges for Maharashtra in making the GCC policy successful and Maharashtra’s strengths that would ensure success of the state.
India hosts over 1,700 GCCs which employs 2.5 million professionals and generates US$ 65 billion in revenue. Out of those 1,700 plus GCCs, Maharashtra hosts around 400 GCCs with around 4 lakh employees. Maharashtra’s GCC Policy aspires to attract 400 new GCCs, with a total investment of Rs 50,600 crore creating 4 lakh high-skilled jobs in a five years horizon by 2029-30. This policy intends to achieve growth in tier 2/3 cities like Nashik, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, instead of just focusing on tier 1 megacities and thriving economic centres like Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune. This perfectly aligns with Prime Minister Modis’ vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047. The priority sectors that this policy focuses on attracting in the state are aerospace, defence, agro and food processing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, renewable energy, textiles, automotive, IT/ITES and gems and jewellery.
To make this possible, the state offers capital subsidies of up to Rs 50 crore, subsidies on rent, salaries and interest paid by the GCCs and grants and support for Research and Development (R&D) and applying for patents. Beyond these benefits, the policy offers exemptions to the GCCs setting up in Maharashtra on stamp duty, property tax and electricity duty payable by the GCCs. Beyond these fiscal incentives, the government offers non-fiscal incentives in form of additional Floor Space Index (FSI) with concessions in premium payable on FSI, relaxations in zoning and land use regulations, single-window clearance through MAITRI portal, uninterrupted power supply and fast track approvals. The government also intends to set up dedicated GCC parks with plug-and-play offices. To ensure all these objectives are achieved, a think tank named “Maharashtra GCC Growth Council” is created which will work on aligning the state’s policy with market standards.
The work on this has also begun with the government firstly focusing on developing the infrastructure for GCCs. The government has signed a Rs. 12,500 crores MOU with Prestige Group to build GCCs and other infrastructure including data centres and logistics parks in Tier 2/3 cities like Nashik, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and other MOU with GCC Consulting Company – ANSR – to develop GCC City in Navi Mumbai. The policy also speaks about suitable amends in the education system in the state with industry-driven curricula, skill upgradation in the technology space and industry and government’s partnerships with academia to make this possible. The government expects that around 25-30 million sq ft of office space would be developed in the next 5 years to house these GCCs. This will also boost the commercial and in turn residential real estate market in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.
Despite all these ambitious aspirations the state faces challenges arising from inadequate infrastructure in tier-2/3 cities that can deter global MNCs from setting up their GCCs in tier 2/3 cities. These lacunae include unreliable power supply, inadequate hi-speed internet connectivity, best of the quality road and rail connectivity and concerns over Tier 2/3 cities’ readiness to host large-scale operations. Many industry experts opine that the fiscal incentives offered by the state in form of subsidy of Rs. 50 crores may not stand in competition with Andhra Pradesh that offers land at 99 paise per acre or a 40 per cent capital subsidy in Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra is also riddled with a very large and slow moving bureaucracy with labyrinth processes resulting in redtapism. This will have to be addressed with special attention and possibly a special cell in CMO headed by sector specialist Single Point of Contacts (SPOCs) handling the clearances of files and awarding permissions and incentives to investee companies.
To conclude, Maharashtra’s GCC Policy 2025 is a bold and ambitious step undertaken by CM Devendra Fadnavis Government to drive Maharashtra on the next trajectory of economic growth driven by knowledge and technology. This policy will also drive growth in tier 2/3 cities. The policy offers attractive incentives and initial actions of the government are robust. However, the success of this policy hinges on the state government addressing gaps in infrastructure, handling execution without delays and competition from states like Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra’s inherent strengths with its strong talent pool and huge numbers of higher education institutes can make Maharashtra India’s GCC capital.
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