Maharashtra aspires to become a trillion-dollar economy within the next seven years and continues to be the preferred investment destination in the country, said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Monday.

Addressing the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited’s (NICDC) fourth investors meet in Mumbai, Fadnavis said: “Maharashtra is the powerhouse and most preferred investment destination with 15 per cent GDP, 20 per cent of the industrial output of our nation.”

Urging the investors to personally visit and explore the investment opportunities in the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), Fadnavs said: “It holds great promises with dry ports, enhanced connectivity and state of art facilities. Seeing is believing. And I promise, when you visit, you will fall in love at first sight with AURIC.”

“AURIC now has even greater connectivity, especially because of the Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway (Samruddhi Expressway) and other connectivity modes,” Fadnavis said.

“We expect investments in AURIC to move fast in the coming months. The entire land parcel will be used to its optimum. The state government will acquire more land to meet the demands,” he added.

“Maharashtra aspires to be a trillion-dollar economy within five to seven years. We are leveraging technology, infrastructure… The state has already established itself as the startup capital of India. Out of 100 unicorns, 25 belong to Maharashtra. The state provides a great ecosystem to work and expand businesses, said Fadnavis.

“Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Industries Minister Uday Samant and myself are available 24×7 to troubleshoot the problems and help facilitate our investors,” he added.