# 36,211 firms shut in Maharashtra, Congress and CM Fadnavis clash over data 2026-08-15T00:58:10+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said 36,211 private companies have closed in the state over the past five years, citing a Lok Sabha reply by Union minister Harsh Malhotra. Sapkal accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of denying the reality and claimed that closures were concentrated in the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik belt, blaming corruption and proximity to power for forcing industries to shut or relocate. Fadnavis countered that 76% of closed companies were 'defunct', never operational, and that Maharashtra still leads the nation with 3.96 lakh active firms, data as of June 2025. He posted figures showing 41,525 new companies registered in the state in 2025-26, more than double Delhi's count. He acknowledged issues in the Chakan industrial belt and said a plan had been finalised to address them. ## Coverage - timesofindia.indiatimes.com - timesofindia.indiatimes.com Tags: BJP, Devendra Fadnavis, Harshwardhan Sapkal, Lok Sabha, Maharashtra, Mumbai Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/congress-says-36211-firms-shut-in-maharashtra-cm-denies/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/congress-says-36211-firms-shut-in-maharashtra-cm-denies/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.