Amaravati: Saudi invests 22k-crores in State since June 19

Amaravati: On the eve of a high-level delegation's visit to Saudi Arabia to seek capital for various sectors in the state, the Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday said Rs 22,000 crore worth investments have been made from June 2019 while another Rs 30,000 crore was in the pipeline.

Led by Zulfi Ravdjee, the state government's special representative for middle-east and far-east countries, the delegation would tour Saudi Arabia from February 24 to 27 to "attract FDIs in sectors like agriculture, food processing, pharmaceuticals, oil and petrochemicals and information technology."

"We will be following up on all investments that were negotiated during the previous Chandrababu Naidu regime. Many (of them) materialised but we have to take them to the logical end," a top official told.

Though oil giant Saudi Aramco was supposed to be a largest investor, particularly in the PCPIR (Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region) in Visakhapatnam, it went away to Maharashtra.

Now that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is seeking to revive the PCPIR project, fresh investment opportunities are being explored from Saudi Arabia. "We are making fresh headway in Saudi Arabia. There are several major project proposals in the pipeline and in the final stages. We will pursue them and possibly seal the deals," the top official, who did not want to be quoted, said.

Meanwhile, Industry Special Chief Secretary Rajat Bhargava said in a statement that 39 large and mega units started their operations in the state since June 2019 with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore and providing employment to 33,000 people.

He said eight large and mega units at an outlay of Rs 7,916 crore and employment potential of 4,086 were under trial production stage while eight more units with an investment of Rs 8,663 crore and employment potential of 14,205 were in the machinery erection stage.

In addition, 6,572 Micro,, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) units were established with an investment of Rs 1,840 crore providing employment to 49,001 persons.

"We are following a focused approach to attract industries into the state. We have a robust development agenda focusing on natural competitive advantages the state holds and beyond.

"We are working on a new industrial policy with a focus on faster clearances and transparency and accountability in land allotments," the Special Chief Secretary added.