MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday unveiled plans for the Maharashtra Innovation City, a transformative hub for startups and industry collaboration that will be modelled after Gujarat’s Gift City.
This innovation city will span 100 acres, fostering innovation at unprecedented speed. “We will identify land and develop this city in record time,” Fadnavis said during the National Startup Day event themed ‘Empowering Innovation, Elevating Maharashtra’.
The announcement coincided with the unveiling of Maharashtra’s draft startup policy offering electricity tariff and stamp duty waivers, as well as patent cost reimbursement.

A single-window online portal for startups will also be developed for all regulatory compliance.
The draft startup policy, which aims to incubate 50,000 startups and create 25 lakh jobs, promises to establish and support over 300 incubators, accelerators, startup hubs, and entrepreneurship labs. These initiatives will work towards providing access to mentorship, financing, co-working spaces, and a startup-friendly regulatory framework.
“We want startups to experience seamless operations, and in the days ahead, our plans will make ease of doing business a reality,” Fadnavis said. “Maharashtra is home to 26,000 startups. It is not just a participant in India’s startup revolution, but ranks among the top seven states in the country for startups.” Pointing out that Maharashtra has the highest number of women directors, he added that they are working on a mission to ensure women hold leadership roles in startups.
The draft policy will accept suggestions from all stakeholders before it is finalised after two months, said skill, employment, entrepreneurship, and innovation minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha. He exhorted industry and venture capitals to work with the govt so that Maharashtra leads the world as the startup capital. “We want to elevate the atmosphere of innovation in Maharashtra. The world is moving fast, and we need to be in step with those changes,” Lodha said.
The draft policy stated: “The state will provide extensive access to finance, including seed funding for up to 5,000 startups.” Green technology startups will be offered incentives, mentorship, and funding too, it added. The draft policy will also extend intellectual property rights (IPR) to registered startups and reimburse 100% of the cost for seeking IPR, capped at Rs 5 lakh per startup for domestic IPR and Rs 20 lakh per startup for international IPR.
The Small Industries Development Bank of India allocated Rs 200 crore for startups, with Rs 30 crore earmarked for each regional division. “There are many innovative entrepreneurs in tier 2 and 3 cities and in the extremely rural areas. They will now have access to funding too to support their ventures,” said Fadnavis.