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The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

M. Somasekhar

Andhra Pradesh recently got a shot in the arm from a report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which ranked it second among the States in the country with total investment intentions for the year 2006-07.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, has observed in its report that Hyderabad was equipped with the most congenial atmosphere for foreign investments in India.

The recent twin blasts in the City seem to have temporarily impacted the sentiment a bit.

The State got its annual Plan for 2007-08 fixed at an unprecedented Rs 30,500 crore, which is an increase of more than 50 per cent over the previous year’s Plan allocation.

On the industrial front, the State is witnessing growth, which is spreading to different regions as well. Since 2004, as many as 432 large scale and medium industries have invested Rs 9,996 crore, creating employment to 56,988 people.

Even the small scale sector is showing buoyancy attracting an investment of nearly Rs 2,000 crore and generating employment to about a lakh people.

In the pipeline are 210 large scale and medium enterprises with a cumulative investment to the tune of Rs 38,671 crore and employment potential of 1.3 lakh, with schedule operationalisation by the end of fiscal 2008-09.

According to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, “We have an ambitious plan to promote petroleum, chemicals, petrochemical investment region (PCPIR) between Visakhapatnam-Kakinada-Rajahmundry coastal corridor spread over an area of 1,48,719 acres.

A conceptual master plan has already been prepared by L&T Ramboll Consulting Engineering Ltd. It will contain 5 notified SEZs, 5 industrial units, 6 industrial parks and 5 other proposed industrial parks.”

In addition to focussing rightly on irrigation, agriculture and rural areas, the Congress (I) Government has taken a slew of measures on the industrial front also to achieve uniform development.

Listing the measures, the Chief Minister said attractive industrial investment promotion policy covering incentives like infrastructure at the doorstep, concessional power tariff, reimbursement of 25 per cent of value added tax (VAT) paid, 100 per cent reimbursement of stamp duty on projects of investment of over Rs 100 crore, encouraging SEZ (special economic zones) in the State to promote large foreign direct investments have been put in place.

The State is boasting of several mega projects that are expected to bolster the industrial climate across the three regions of Telangana, Rayalseema and Coastal Andhra.

For example, the 15 MMTPA refinery with an investment of Rs 18,000 crore by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation at Kakinada and a 9 MMTPA refinery with an investment of about Rs 18,000 crore by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd at Visakhapatnam in the Coastal Andhra region.

In Rayalseema, a huge investment of Rs 20,000 crore by Brahmani Steels at Kadapa has been promised, though some controversy has been generated at present. Kadapa in the region has emerged as a favoured destination.

Easwar Cement Project with an investment of Rs 628 crore, Tummalapalli Uranium Project by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL), under the Department of Atomic Energy with an investment of Rs 1,029 crore are some of the big projects being planned.

In neighbouring Anantapur district, UltraTech Cement is taking up a Rs 1,064 crore expansion project.

In Telangana, especially outside of Hyderabad, the big project expected to take off is the MLR Motors car manufacturing unit in Medak district. The various SEZs for pharma in Jedcherla in Mahboobnagar and other product specific ones are also expected give a big boost to employment in the backward districts of the region.

In coastal Andhra Visakhapatnam is fast emerging as the industrial nerve centre. It has already attracted IT companies like Satyam, Wipro, HSBC, Kenexa etc.

The expansion of the Vizag Steel Plant with Rs 6,500 crore, the Rs 3,000 crore project of MAS holding apparel unit in Nellore, Whitefield Paper Mills Rs 1,000 crore unit in West Godavari are other big ticket projects in coastal Andhra.

The international airport project being executed by the GMR Group at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad will be the first developed by the private sector in India and would become operational in March 2008.

With it, a large number of initiatives taken up by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA), to link the airport as well as create better civic infrastructure to the citizens will gather momentum.

The HUDA is already in the process of finalising the metro rail project, which will further ease traffic issues, which are a major irritant for the common people and growth of Hyderabad.

More Stories on : Economy | Foreign Direct Investment | Andhra Pradesh

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