Maharashtra

Maharashtra occupies a long stretch of the western coast and the Deccan plateau behind it. The capital is Mumbai, also India’s financial centre. The state is the third largest by area and among the largest by population and economic output.

Mumbai holds the country’s main financial institutions, its largest stock exchanges, its busiest port and the bulk of its film and television industry. Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad have large automobile, engineering and information-technology sectors. Agriculture in the interior grows sugarcane, cotton, soybean, onion and grapes, with horticulture expanding in the drier districts. Sugarcane, and the water and electricity it consumes, has been the most politically charged crop in the state for decades.

The state’s rainfall is sharply uneven. The coastal Konkan and the Ghats receive very heavy monsoon rain, while Marathwada and parts of Vidarbha in the interior are drought-prone and have seen repeated distress in their cotton and soybean belts. The state also holds the Ajanta and Ellora cave complexes, among the most significant ancient sites in India. Mumbai’s housing, transport and flood management have been recurring points of contention, most visibly after the deluge of July 2005, which prompted a rethink of the city’s drainage and its reclamation of the Mithi river basin.