Mumbai, Jun 14 (IANS): Kickstarting the 'Magnetic Maharashtra' initiative, Maharashtra is slated to sign 12 major MoUs with global companies for investments in the state on Monday, an official said here on Sunday.

The MoUs shall be signed with companies from USA, China, South Korea and Singapore in the presence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Industries Minister Subhash Desai besides a bilateral investment discussion, via video-conferencing, in the evening.

There has been interest from other countries like Russia, Japan, Germany and others in various sectors like engineering, automobiles, food processing, ESDM, IT, ITES, and others.

The development comes a month after Desai had announced these plans as global investment sentiments have plummeted in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, presenting the state with a unique opportunity to attract FDI from global companies looking to diversify their supply chains across South East Asia.

During the different phases of the lockdown, the state has already reopened over 60,000 industries methodically with over 1.5 million employees returning to work.

The state will also unveil its 'Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0' roadmap featuring pathbreaking initiatives like Plug & Play infrastructure, a land bank of over 40,000 acres, flexible rentals/pricing structures, automatic permissions with 48 hours, specialised labour protection guidance, and the entire ecosystem for investments in the post-pandemic era.

The Maharashtra side will include Minister of State Aditi Tatkare, the new Sherpa for FDI Bhushan Gagrani, Industries Principal Secretary Venugopal Redy and state Industrial Development Corporation CEO, P. Anbalagan.