World Economic Forum 2025: Maharashtra signs MoUs worth ₹6.25 lakh crore, platform to bridge women’s health gap launched

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place at Davos, Switzerland this year from January 20, 2025 to January 24, 2025. Top government leaders, heads of international organisations, business leaders and members of forum communities, among others, are participating in Davos 2025.

India has sent its largest contingent ever to the forum, which includes five union ministers, three chief ministers and ministers from several states, along with nearly 100 CEOs and other leaders from various fields.

"In the World Economic Forum in Davos, there is a lot of interest in understanding our thought process, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic policy, digital transformation and the way India has created a new digital architecture under the Digital India program," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said before leaving for Davos as head of the Indian delegation.

Leaders from across the world have highlighted the need for new pathways to greater cooperation in the current times of geopolitical uncertainty with their deliberations at the annual WEF meeting.

"This transition from the Industrial to the Intelligent Age is occurring at an exponential pace, carrying unprecedented risks for humanity as we strive to prepare and adapt for its complexities,” WEF Founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab said addressing the gathering of global leaders.

Here are the major highlights of Davos 2025 so far:

• The event began with conferring legendary footballer David Beckham and two others with the prestigious Crystal Awards, and an opening concert with classical music and AI-generated visuals that brought attention to the urgent environmental crisis going on in Antarctica.

• Maharashtra has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) amounting to ₹6.25 lakh crore, including the ₹3 lakh crore MoU signed with JSW Group for investments in steel, renewable energy, infrastructure, cement, etc. The MoUs are expected to generate over 90,000 jobs.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to establish itself as a powerful force on the global stage. He said that the continent must prioritise alliances, technological advancements and a cohesive security and defence policy.

• As South Africa is currently holding the G20 Presidency, President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined Africa's objectives for the G20 Summit which is scheduled for November 2025 in Johannesburg. He said that South Africa will focus its G20 Presidency on three themes: solidarity, equality and sustainable development.

• Rights group Greenpeace put a poster reading "Tax the super rich. Fund a just & green future" inside the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting venue. The organisation called for ending inequality to save the planet.

• The WEF released a report titled Blueprint for Intelligent Economies, in collaboration with KPMG, which highlights nine key strategic objectives aimed at guiding the entire AI journey—from innovation and development to deployment and adoption—across national, regional, and global scales. The report emphasised the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors in the global adoption of AI.

• WEF launched a new Women's Health Impact Tracking platform which is designed to monitor and bridge health gaps suffered by women around the world. It said that closing the health gap in women can unlock $400 billion in global GDP annually by the year 2040.

• In a flagship report released by WEF every year on the first day of the annual meeting, an Oxfam International report showed that billionaire wealth has increased by $2 trillion across the world in 2024, hitting $15 trillion, rising at a rate three times faster than 2023. The wealth of billionaires in Asia increased by $299 billion last year, while a total of 204 billionaires were added to the list in 2024 alone globally, of which 41 were from Asia.

• On the third day of the forum, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to meet Microsoft founder Bill Gates, along with other global executives, on Wednesday, January 22. The CM will promote ‘Brand Andhra’ and display various investment opportunities in the state.

• CtrlS Datacenters Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Telangana government to build an AI Datacenter Cluster in the state with an expected outlay of ₹10,000 crore.