Alpine Promises

There is something faintly theatrical about Indian Chief Ministers flying to Davos to sign memoranda of understanding, as if Switzerland’s thin air confers a special aura of credibility. On the opening day of the World Economic Forum, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government had signed 19 MoUs worth a heady Rs. 14.5 lakh crore, promising 15 lakh jobs across sectors ranging from green energy to quantum computing. The numbers are grand.

Yet back home, the contrast is harder to ignore. Mumbai, the state’s economic engine and supposed gateway for foreign investment, groans under collapsing roads, unreliable suburban trains, flooding every monsoon and a skyline punctured by unfinished projects. Against this backdrop, it is fair to ask whether the spectacle of Davos offers diminishing returns and whether the money spent on delegations, pavilions and Alpine networking might be better deployed fixing the infrastructure that ordinary citizens actually use.

MoUs, after all, are expressions of intent, often vague, sometimes recycled. Maharashtra has long been a champion of the Davos numbers game, routinely topping investment-tally charts each January. Yet the conversion rate, the proportion of promised investment that actually materialises, remains stubbornly opaque. Governments announce cumulative figures with pride but they are less eager to publish audited follow-ups showing how many factories were built, how many jobs proved permanent, and how many projects quietly withered once the headlines faded.

This year’s announcements follow a familiar pattern. Data centres, renewable energy, logistics and real estate dominate the list. Lodha Developers’ additional Rs. 1 lakh crore commitment to a data centre park was presented as a marquee achievement, even though the company had already signed a Rs. 30,000 crore MoU months earlier under an existing state policy. If such deals hinge on foreign partners, why must they be sanctified at Davos at all?

The government’s defence is that global investors are present at the WEF and Maharashtra accounts for 39% of India’s FDI. All this is true up to a point. Maharashtra’s size, talent pool and financial depth would anyway attract capital with or without snow-capped mountains. What investors also notice, though, are bottlenecks in form of creaking infrastructure and the urban governance that struggles to keep pace with growth. These are not problems that can be solved by signing ceremonies abroad.

Consider Mumbai’s infrastructure backlog. Roads are dug up with ritual regularity and restored poorly. The suburban rail network, lifeline to millions, remains dangerously overcrowded despite years of promises. Drainage upgrades lag behind climate reality, ensuring annual floods. A city that works is the best investment pitch any Chief Minister can make.

There is also a political economy to Davos theatrics. MoUs create an aura of momentum, useful in domestic politics and investor optics alike. But they can distract from the harder, less glamorous work of execution.

This is not to argue that Maharashtra should shun foreign investors or global forums. But engagement should be a means, not an end.