Over 36,000 firms shut operations in Maharashtra in 5 years

Opposition leaders have sharply criticised the Maharashtra Government after data disclosed in the Lok Sabha showed that over 36,000 private companies were liquidated, dissolved, or struck off in the State over the last five financial years.

They claimed excessive Government interference, widespread corruption, and an increasingly unfavourable business environment as key drivers pushing commercial and industrial activity away from Maharashtra.

The information was shared in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on August 10, in response to a question asked by Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha member Rajabhau Waje.

Waje on Wednesday said that the closure of more than 14,000 companies in business services and nearly 6,500 in manufacturing was particularly alarming, as these sectors generate substantial employment.

“Some 14,000 companies in business services and some 6,500 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,” he told reporters.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that political interference and corruption under the current regime are severely harming the State’s economic trajectory. He also raised concerns over the Government’s alleged failure to create a conducive climate for enterprise, stressing that the closure trends directly contradict the rhetoric around utilising India’s demographic dividend.

“The current regime in Maharashtra has a lust for power and nothing else. Its increased interference in where new businesses or industrial units would come is adversely affecting the State’s growth in this sector. The widespread corruption and unfavourable environment for the business sector are now reflected in this Lok Sabha answer,” he said.

As per the data, 36,211 private companies underwent liquidation, dissolution or were struck off in Maharashtra over the past five financial years. Business services accounted for the largest share at 14,613, or about 40 per cent of the total, followed by manufacturing, mining, quarrying and others at 6,582; trading at 4,196; community, personal and social services at 3,361.

A total of 2,356 companies from the construction sector faced the same fate, followed by storage and communications at 1,336; agriculture and allied activities at 1,178; real estate and renting at 1,149; finance at 1,012; electricity, gas and water companies at 387; and insurance at 41, the data showed.

Among the districts, Mumbai City recorded the highest number at 12,009, followed by Pune at 6,433 and Thane at 4,704. Nagpur accounted for 1,478 companies that went out of business, Nashik 840, Raigarh 822 and Aurangabad 654. Kolhapur recorded 429, Ahmednagar 308, Solapur 262, Sangli 247, Jalgaon 215, Satara 196, Bandra Suburban 172, Nanded 169, Latur 163 and Amravati 151. The ‘Others’ category accounted for 5,636 companies, it said.

Mumbai City, Pune and Thane together accounted for 23,146 companies, or nearly 64 per cent of the Maharashtra total.

Referring to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent remarks that young people could not all seek jobs and some would have to start businesses, Sawant said data shared by the Corporate Affairs Ministry were at odds with that message.

“Now, the Union Government’s own admission shows that what Bhagwat is preaching is not being implemented by BJP leaders at all,” Sawant said. He also claimed that Maharashtra was lagging behind Karnataka in attracting foreign direct investment.

Waje also pointed to the absence of data on workers affected by the closures.

“The 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 company.

In its written response, the Centre stated that it does not maintain information on workers affected by the closure of private company operations. Where 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 said.

In winding-up 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 said.

The 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 location-based benefits to attract genuine industries to rural and backward districts of Maharashtra.

Responding to a question by BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar in the Maharashtra Assembly on whether over 12,000 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 true”.