Growing dissatisfaction with deteriorating roads, unreliable utilities and congestion in Chakan, near Pune, is prompting dozens of manufacturing firms to consider moving elsewhere, highlighting a pressing need for comprehensive infrastructural reforms in India’s key auto hub.
Chakan, near Pune, is confronting a growing industrial backlash as small and medium-sized manufacturers say worsening roads, unreliable utilities and mounting congestion are pushing some firms to consider leaving the area. ThePrint reported that about 20 companies have threatened to move, while industry leaders say the wider problem affects far more businesses across one of India’s key auto manufacturing clusters.
Dileep Batwal, chief executive of the Federation of Chakan Industries, told ThePrint that firms have already written to the government but have yet to receive an official response. He said companies are frustrated by what they see as temporary fixes rather than durable repairs, and some are now weighing relocation to Satara’s Khandala MIDC or to other states entirely.
The concerns go beyond potholes. Industry representatives say poor road conditions slow freight movement so badly that even short trips can take hours during the monsoon, disrupting supply chains and raising safety risks. They also point to repeated power cuts, water problems and delays in workers reaching plants, with one Brembo India employee telling ThePrint that late arrivals from second and third shift staff were cutting productivity. Batwal said the hub has already seen more than 50 companies shift operations to Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in recent years.
Local businesses are also worried about the wider ecosystem around the industrial zone. A report by The Bridge Chronicle described deteriorating roads, waste-management failures, illegal construction, pipeline leaks and non-working streetlights, while other local accounts have linked poor waste control to safety and environmental problems. Separately, a study posted on SSRN said infrastructure gaps in the Chakan corridor create measurable logistical friction, delay freight and weaken labour retention, and argued that larger regional projects such as the Pune Ring Road could help ease pressure over the longer term.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has acknowledged the complaints and said the area could be upgraded more effectively if it were developed as a township. Speaking to reporters in Pune on Wednesday, he said work on infrastructure would resume after the monsoon. For now, industry groups want a single nodal agency to oversee Chakan, arguing that the current patchwork of authorities has left no one clearly accountable for a problem they say is now undermining one of Maharashtra’s most important manufacturing centres.
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