Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Global Investment Summit drew leading industrialists and delegates of several MNCs to the port city of Visakhapatnam. Most of the top business leaders and several senior ministers unveiled the future investment plans for the state.
The state attracted investments in renewable energy, manufacturing, telecom, and Infrastructure. The state is poised to move up the value chain and gain a share in the export market.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Naveen Jindal, the Chairman of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd said, “We are working on setting up a 3 Mn Tonne steel plant by investing Rs 10,000 cr that will generate employment for 10,000. We are going to sign an MoU to this effect today.” On behalf of his brother Shri Sajjan Jindal chairman and managing director of JSW Group of companies Shri Navin Jindal announced that JSW group is setting up a steel plant in Kadapa, a dream project of the honourable chief minister.
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JSW group is also signing MoU with the state government for investing in Renewable Energy across Solar, Hydro, and Wind and also for expanding its Cement capacity in the state. The group is also investing in a port and building a slurry pipeline and an MSME park.
Shri G.M. Rao, the Chairman of GMR Group emphasised the role of political leadership in the economic transformation. “When it comes to strong and visionary leadership this is the best time to invest and we have got real transformational leaders in the centre and the state of Andhra Pradesh. Our beloved prime minister Narendra Modi ji is creating a new India. In the last nine years, he has fundamentally transformed our country on the path of becoming a superpower.
Similarly, Andhra Pradesh under the visionary leadership of our visionary chief minister Shri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Garu is being transformed into the most progressive and forward-looking state in the country. The testimony of which is the fact that the state is ranked number one among all states and also we are witnessing double-digit growth consistently” Shri Rao said.
GMR group is privileged to be developing the green field airport at Bhogapuram International Airport at Visakhapatnam in his home state. Phase one of this airport will serve six million passengers and an ultimate capacity of 30 Million passengers will be reached. In phase one, Rs 5000 Cr will be invested.
“We’ll also be developing metropolis and airport cities around the airport that will consist of an industrial zone, airspace zone, and education, and healthcare zones. We’ll replicate the success of Hyderabad airport, it will help in the transformation of Vizag city and also place the state on the global map as the most preferred investment destination”, said Shri Rao.
Shri Sumant Sinha, the Chairman & Managing Director of Renew Power underlined the unique strengths of Andhra in the renewable energy space.
“As far as renewable energy is concerned there are three specific Unique factors in the state. Number one it is among a few states with good wind, as well as solar resources, second, the state has been granted number one rank in ease of doing business, and thirdly the leadership of the state is so dynamic and visionary. As a result, I am very happy to announce an investment in the renewable energy and decarbonization sector in AP over the next 5 to 7 years. This will eventually end up being our biggest investment in any state in India. We’ll invest in the areas of green hydrogen, pumped hydro, renewable energy generating projects, and solar panel manufacturing along with efficient supply chains. The moU between the AP government and Renew Power that we are going to sign today was made possible in a very short time mainly due to the visionary guidance of the honourable chief minister Y Jagan Mohan Reddy Garu. Once we got the green signal from the honourable CM the officers of the AP government did everything very fast. I would like to thank everyone for making this possible” said Shri Sinha.
Shri Hari Mohan Bangur, Chairman of Shree Cement, praised Andhra Pradesh’s investor-friendly policies and its skilled workforce. He said, “We are looking to invest Rs 5000 cr that will create direct and indirect employment for 5000 people and will lead to an Rs1000 Cr contribution to the state exchequer annually.”
Smt Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairman of Apollo Hospital stated, “The theme of the conference which says where abundance meets prosperity seems perfect from what we have seen. But I would like to add one more word to it which is good health because with good health comes prosperity and abundance. As a family of Andhra Pradesh, we are putting aside Rs500 cr towards a state-of-the-art innovation centre that will take up artificial intelligence, and machine learning and more than anything else work with research centres globally to bring accessible, affordable, and high-end medicine including genetic mapping into this country this state more than anything else in our wonderful campus at Chittoor.”
Shri Puneet Dalmia, Managing Director of Dalmia Bharat Group said, “Our association with AP started around 15 years ago during the tenure of honourable CM’s father Dr. YS Raj Shekar Reddy and we established a cement plant in Kadapa district with an investment around Rs 1000 crores. We have been happy with all the support that we have got and we have witnessed the growth of this state in infrastructure. Whenever we have a problem everyone is accessible, decisions are taken in no time, and then followed through implementation. So, it’s a very welcoming and efficient state to do business.”
Shri Sajjan Bhajanka, Chairman of Century Plyboards, also underlined the business-friendly climate of the state. Our dream journey in AP started around 14 months back when I met the honourable CM Of AP We were a little skeptical about our plant in AP. But in that meeting, the location of the nodal officers was decided and that was the day. Usually putting up an industry is like a hurdle race, sometimes hurdles are defined sometimes only when you move ahead some self-help NGOs, and vested interests will come and create problems, but we have not come across any such problem in Andhra. We are putting up 3 plants instead of only one planned initially and all will be completed before December. Andhra will be our first choice for future expansions,” mentions Shri Bhajanka.
Shri BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder Chairman Cyient recalled his long association with the state. “Seventeen years ago I started a facility in Kakinada. In 2010 under late YSR, I started my second project in Vizag. Today, I assure the honourable CM, we will grow our business in Vizag to double digits. But HCM Jagan Garu has done amazing work in the last few years in education. Rs 1.12 lakh crore has been spent on education in AP. Spending money on education is a long-term vision that honourable CM Jagan Reddy has. My two submissions are, we need intervention in higher education to ensure that Andhra becomes the knowledge capital of the world. Next, we have to create and nurture innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Shri Masahiro Yamaguchi, MD, Toray industries India Limited stated, “We are investing another Rs200 cr and doubling the capacity that will be in operation by the end of this year.”
Shri Kab Dong Lee, Kia Motors speaking at the event acknowledged the key role of state government in the company’s success. “We have built a world-class automobile plant with the help of the government of Andhra Pradesh. We received parcels of developed land, power, and water supply, skilled human resources, and well-connected transportation for shipping. We are thankful to the government of Andhra Pradesh for the support during covid period that helped us with the safe movement of employees and raw materials.
Shri Sumit Bidani CEO Knauf stated, “We commissioned our state-of-the-art plant in 2019 at Sri City, Tirupati District of AP. With an initial investment of 40 million USD, the plant provides direct employment to more than 200 employees. I must say the kind of skill we get in people out here is excellent. We have received a lot of support from the AP government to ensure the project is completed in record time. The power infrastructure in Sri City has been excellent with a reliable power supply. Access to multiple ports within 100km of Sri City has been very competitive both in terms of raw material import as well as transports of our finished goods.
Shri Martin Eberhard, the Co-Founder and former CEO of Tesla Inc. recognized the potential of India’s Tech & EV Revolution. He noted, “Starting a car company in 2002 was absolutely crazy. No new car company has ever succeeded in my lifetime. Because it was such a crazy idea it was first impossible to hire anyone with automotive experience. So, we started off with just beginners who had never done electric cars in their life. I think if I had known how difficult it was to start a car company we might not have done it. But I think it’s my own naivety and naivety if my founding team was necessary. I am especially interested in learning about the start up in the AP as well as the green energy production.”
On the first day of the event, honourable CM YS Jagan inaugurated the exhibition put up by the local artists, which also showcased the different strengths of the state. Overall, there were more than 135 Exhibitors participating in the event showcasing their businesses.
Andhra Pradesh is India’s gateway to the southeast with its 974 km long coastline, the second longest in the country, 6 existing ports, and 4 upcoming ports.
Coincidently, it has also emerged as the fastest-growing state in India, as per the number released so far, with double-digit growth of 11.43% in 2021-22. The state has embarked on a rapid growth path under the able leadership of Sri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Honourable Chief Minister. Thanks to the governance reforms and formulation of investor-friendly policies by the government, the state has emerged on top in terms of ease of doing business (EoD) for three consecutive years.
Consistent improvement in the governance framework to create hassle-free investing is augmented by hard infrastructure. The improvements have been duly recognised and the state has received various awards over the last one year alone. To name a few the LEADS award for logistics 2022, the Inertia Award for Energy 2022, the ET award for port-led and the infrastructure project 2022.
