NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Monday described the Western Region as the “WEST Engine” of India’s economic growth, highlighting its dominance in wealth creation and finance, exports, ports, start-ups, semiconductors, tourism and the blue economy.
Addressing the 28th meeting of the Western Zonal Council in Panaji, Goa, the Shah said the region, comprising Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, is the country’s largest economic, industrial and financial centre.
Shah said the region’s contribution has been critical to India recording a 7.8 per cent growth rate in the first quarter of 2026–27, despite continuing global economic turbulence. He said the performance was a matter of pride and credited the member states and UTs of the Western Zonal Council with making a significant contribution to the national growth story.
In a statement, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, “Elaborating on his ‘WEST Engine’ formulation, Shah said W stands for wealth and finance, E for exports and ports, S for start-ups and semiconductors and T for tourism and the blue economy.”
According to the statement, Shah also noted that Goa attracts more than one crore tourists annually, including around five lakh foreign visitors, with tourism contributing about 16 per cent of its GSDP.
The home minister pointed to Maharashtra’s leadership in the start-up ecosystem, with 33,872 start-ups, while Gujarat’s Dholera has emerged as a major semiconductor hub. He also highlighted Gujarat’s Mundra Port for its high cargo handling capacity and Deendayal Port’s position among the country’s leading ports.
Shah also said Mumbai continues to strengthen its position as India’s financial capital and an emerging global capital hub.
The home minister also underlined the growing role of zonal councils in strengthening cooperative federalism. He said the government has substantially increased the frequency of their meetings. “Between 2004 and 2014, only 25 meetings of the zonal councils and their standing committees were held, compared with 71 meetings since 2014. During these meetings, 1,893 issues were taken up, of which 1,445 have been resolved,” he said.
According to Shah, the councils have evolved from primarily being forums for resolving inter-state disputes into mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of welfare and development programmes. He said there are currently no major disputes among the states of the Western Region and noted that several river-related disputes have also been resolved through the councils.
The meeting reviewed a wide range of issues, including child malnutrition, Aadhaar penetration, implementation of Ayushman Bharat cards, Fast Track Special Courts for cases involving rape of women and children, emergency response services under ERSS-112, food safety, railway projects, and environmental clearance as well as banking access in villages.
Shah called upon the Western states to take the lead in implementing the new criminal laws and strengthening the fight against drugs and cybercrime. He also stressed the need to connect urban cooperative banks with the Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, integrate cooperative banks with MuleHunter AI and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), and strengthen coastal security over the next two years.
The Home Minister further said all four members of the Western Zonal Council are emerging leaders in green energy and urged them to maximise opportunities under the centre’s data-centre policy.
The meeting was attended by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Praful K Patel, along with senior officials from the centre, states and union territories.
