Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday rejected NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar’s claim that thousands of companies in the state were closing down. Pawar on Thursday had claimed that over 36,000 private companies closed down in the last five years.
The chief minister also highlighted the number of new businesses being registered in the state. Fadnavis attributed the Chakan problem to presence of too many agencies. The deputy chief minister also spoke to representatives of industrial associations.
Sharing data, the chief minister said India has more than 31 lakh registered companies, of which around 21 lakh are currently active. The number of active companies in the country has increased from 6,78,768 in 2015-16 to 21,17,747 now, representing more than a three-fold increase over the past decade, he said. Maharashtra recorded the highest number of new registrations in 2025-26, with 41,525 companies. A meeting involving the district administration, Public Works Department, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Zilla Parishad and other agencies was held on August 12 on the initiative of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, he said.
Fadnavis said that the data provided in Parliament should be viewed in proper context. He said around one lakh new companies are registered across India every year. On Pawar’s concerns over Chakan, Fadnavis acknowledged that the industrial area was facing problems and said Industries Minister Uday Samant had been directed to look into them. “We have realised that there are 5-7 government agencies and there is no one authority that is accountable,” he said. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, who is the guardian minister of Pune district, said in a statement that problems in the Chakan industrial area will be taken up on priority. She said a meeting would soon be held with industrialists from Chakan and officials to discuss the issues and work out solutions.
