Advantage Andhra Pradesh: State Calls On Industry To Invest

Detailing the various advantages of investing in the plug and play industrial ambience of fastest growing Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy this past week called upon global investors to invest in the state and be part of its economic growth.

The Andhra Pradesh government will be holding its Global Investors Summit (GIS) in Vishakhapatnam on 3,4 March. At a curtain raiser event for the summit this past week in New Delhi said, “Here I am to invite you to Visakhapatnam which is going to be our capital, in the days to come. I myself would also be shifting over to Visakhapatnam in the months to come as well.”

The theme of the summit is ‘Advantage Andhra Pradesh Where Abundance Meet Prosperity.’ 

On the side-lines of the curtain raiser event, BW Businessworld caught up with Karikal Valaven, Special Chief Secretary, Industries, Commerce, Infrastructure and Investment Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Valaven describes the ‘Advantage Andhra Pradesh’ and why investors should look towards the state.

Excerpts:

Tell us more about the theme of this summit. What advantage Adhra Pradesh government is speaking about and what is it portraying to the industry?

 For the global investor summit, the theme which we have kept is ‘Advantage Andhra Pradesh Where Abundance Meet Prosperity.’

When we say Advantage Andhra Pradesh, there are many advantages but I will brief only those advantages that are helpful, useful and supportive to the industry. The first thing is governance, a strong, transparent, and corruption-free governance is there up to the village and ward levels. Secondly, we have a very peaceful Industrial Relations without any disputes. The next is we have skilled manpower available. These three things are required for industry.

Secondly, Infrastructure whether it is power, water or road, we are prosperous. Apart from this, we are concentrating on reducing the cost of doing business so that the businesses which are established in Andhra Pradesh become competitive in global market. For this, logistic support is crucial and thus, we are developing inland waterways. We have a port infrastructure, already six functional ports are there and four are under development. We are also developing nine fishing harbours, which will function as mini ports. With this, we are promoting maritime economy.

Also, we have a good gas network and established telecom infrastructure. Moreover, we have three industrial corridors, out of which we identified ten industrial nodes. We are developing these nodes with world-class infrastructure through private sector and with the help of the government.

What according to you have been some of the important policy initiatives by the government that have made the business environment more conducive?

Land-cost is one of the major capital investments. What we do is, we provide land on lease. Thus, the industrialist only has to make 25 per cent of the payment at first. After 10 years of successful running of the business, the owner gets an option of buying the land. Because of this, the land cost gets reduced.

Secondly, power and water are provided at a consistent rate. Thirdly, because of the availability of ample of infrastructure like road, road, port, airways, the cost ultimately reduces.

We will establish Inland waterways policy, this will take care of 1555 kms length of internal waterways. We have already identified 24-27 locations for the terminals. These terminals will reduce the cost and time of travelling.

What would be the salient features of New Industrial Policy that is to be launched? What are the learnings from past Industrial Policy? 

We want to attract major investments. When major investments are attracted, the downstream industries are developed, that eventually supports the MSME sector. MSME sector is crucial for us as it is the largest employment provider. So, we want to support MSME sector by bringing in huge investments. Such investments do not look at small fiscal incentives, however they build the infrastructure.

Infrastructure is the major support, what we are going to provide along with the hand holding of industries.