Maharashtra: 36,211 companies closed in 5 years; Opposition questions govt over business climate

Opposition leaders have sharply criticised the Maharashtra government after data presented in the Lok Sabha showed that more than 36000 private companies in the state were liquidated dissolved or struck off over the past five financial yearsThey attributed the closures to excessive government interference widespread corruption and an increasingly unfavourable business environment alleging that these factors were driving commercial and industrial activity away from Maharashtra news agency PTI reportedThe information was shared in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on Monday in response to a question raised by Shiv Sena UBT Lok Sabha member Rajabhau WajeThe Shiv Sena UBT lawmaker on Wednesday said the closure of more than 14000 companies in business services and nearly 6500 in manufacturing was particularly alarming as these sectors generate substantial employmentSome 14000 companies in business services and some 6500 companies from manufacturing sectors have closed down in the last five fiscal years These sectors generate significantly higher employment and such higher numbers of closures are shocking Waje told reportersMaharashtra Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant told PTI that political interference and corruption under the current regime were severely harming the states economic trajectory He also raised concerns over the governments alleged failure to create a conducive environment for businesses saying the closure trends directly contradicted the rhetoric around utilising Indias demographic dividendThe current regime in Maharashtra has lust for power and nothing else Its increased interference in where the new businesses or industrial units would come is adversely affecting the states growth in this sector The widespread corruption and unfavourable environment for the business sector are now reflected in this Lok Sabha answer stated SawantBusiness services manufacturing account for major shareAs per the data 36211 private companies underwent liquidation dissolution or were struck off in Maharashtra over the past five financial yearsBusiness services accounted for the largest share with 14613 companies or about 40 per cent of the total companies that underwent liquidation dissolution or were struck off Manufacturing mining quarrying and other firms stood at 6582 trading at 4196 and community personal and social services at 3361A total of 2356 companies from the construction sector faced the same fate followed by storage and communications at 1336 agriculture and allied activities at 1178 real estate and renting at 1149 finance at 1012 electricity gas and water companies at 387 and insurance at 41 the data showedMumbai Pune and Thane account for nearly 64 per centAmong the districts Mumbai City recorded the highest number of company closures at 12009 followed by Pune at 6433 and Thane at 4704Nagpur accounted for 1478 companies that went out of business Nashik 840 Raigad 822 and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 654Kolhapur recorded 429 Ahilyanagar 308 Solapur 262 Sangli 247 Jalgaon 215 Satara 196 Bandra Suburban 172 Nanded 169 Latur 163 and Amravati 151The Others category accounted for 5636 companies the data showedMumbai City Pune and Thane together accounted for 23146 companies or nearly 64 per cent of the Maharashtra totalSawant cites RSS chiefs remarks on job creationReferring to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats recent remarks that young people could not all seek jobs and some would have to start businesses Sawant said the data shared by the Corporate Affairs Ministry were at odds with that messageNow the Union Governments own admission shows that what Bhagwat is preaching is not being implemented by BJP leaders at all Sawant statedHe also claimed that Maharashtra was lagging behind Karnataka in attracting foreign direct investmentWaje also pointed to the absence of data on workers affected by the closuresThe Union government does have figures of the number of companies that have closed down but unfortunately it does not have how many workers were affected due to such closures he said claiming that a labourer in Nashik district died by suicide last month after being sacked from a local companyCentre says no data on workers affectedIn its written response the Centre stated that it does not maintain information on workers affected by the closure of private company operationsWhere a company enters the corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code claims of employees and workers are adjudicated according to orders of the adjudicating authority it saidIn windingup or liquidation cases claims of workmen and employees including pending wages and other admissible statutory dues are handled by the liquidator in accordance with applicable provisions subject to availability of funds and the statutory order of priority it saidThe government also said no central information was maintained on any special rehabilitation package for workers affected by company closures or on proposed tax incentives and locationbased benefits to attract genuine industries to rural and backward districts of MaharashtraResponding to a question by BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar in the Maharashtra Assembly on whether over 12000 small industrial units had closed in four years because of a slowdown and various other reasons Industry Minister Uday Samant had said the claim was partially trueWith PTI inputs