Andhra Pradesh woos Bengal investors
In what can be billed as first physical investors' meet post-pandemic, a fairly large contingent of top officials from the AP came down to Kolkata for brokering major investments into the State
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Kolkata: Within days of beginning of the relaxations of the lockdown norms by the Bengal government, the Andhra Pradesh government-led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken the first step to broker and woo in investments from Mamata's Bengal. In what can be billed as the first physical investors' meet post pandemic, a fairly large contingent of top officials from the AP Economic Development Board, AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and the department of commerce and industries and export promotion, came down to Kolkata to have one-on-one and joint sessions with the virtual who's who of Kolkata Inc and brokering major investments into Andhra Pradesh.
The AP team, led by JVN Subramanyam, Director, Industries and Commerce and Vice Chairman and MD, AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and Krishna GV Giri, Executive Vice Chairman, AP Economic Development Board and Advisor (industries), government of AP, participated at the "Destination Andhra Pradesh" business meet jointly organised by APEDB and MCC.
"We are very excited about reaching out to industrialists and members of the business community from Bengal and explaining and offering to them various unique features, amenities, advantages that Andhra Pradesh offers to investors, especially in areas of automobiles, textiles, garments, pharma, capital goods, food processing, technology, MSME and start-ups," said Subramanyam.
Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Subramanyam said, "The Andhra Pradesh government under the stewardship of the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, knows exactly where it hurts the investors and therefore along with fiscal incentives, the state government hands over pre-EC environment clearances through professionally-run AP Environment Management Corporation. Besides, the state government has set up as many as 30 Skill Colleges across the state to train and groom young talents with high-end industry-related skills. Many companies often have this problem of finding and sourcing suitable and employable candidates. These skill colleges would take care of that need by training and up-skilling people with particular knowledge and skills required by a particular industry."
Giri, on his parts, said, "Our government, under the leadership of the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has recognized the importance of sustainability in all our endeavours. We have started various initiatives to make it easy for the companies to follow strong ESG (Environmental, social and Governance) policies and mitigate the environmental and social concerns involved in setting up an enterprise. We have incorporated the Industrial Zoning principles into the Industrial Development Policy to ensure planned industrial development and to provide a 'risk-free' and investment-friendly environment. Further, our industrial policy is also geared towards encouraging companies adopting green and clean production measures. Programmes (Navaratnalu) are geared towards improving the performance of the state in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)."
Both Subramanyam and Giri pointed out that the new government was instrumental in setting up of nearly 65 large and mega industries and 13,885 MSME units, which together brought in investment of Rs 34,001 crore and generated as many as1,33,565 employment. Further, there are 62 projects under implementation with total investment of Rs 36,384.29 crore with a potential to create employment to 76,916 people and 5 public sector units with an investment of Rs 96,400 crore and with a potential to create employment to 79,700 people.
"All these industries are poised to build critical mass for industrialization and enable organic cluster-led development required to build linkages in the upcoming industrial clusters at Kopparthy Industrial Hub in Kadapa, industrial corridor development at Nellore, Chittoor, Kurnool and Anantapur districts," said Giri.
Subramanyam said that their message to the investing community in Bengal has been quite clear and loud- the state government would handhold them through the entire journey, right from the word 'go'. The state would also ensure that they were not just the number one in ease of doing business, but also the most competitive in the cost of doing business.
