Andhra Pradesh woos Bengal investors

Kolkata: Within days of beginning of the relaxations of the lockdown norms by the Bengal government, theAndhra Pradesh government-led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken the first step to 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 with an aim to get 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 `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."

Focusing on Industrial Clusters

♦ YSRCP govt attracted 65 large industries and 13,885 MSMEs involving Rs34,001-cr investment

♦ Created 1,33,565 jobs so far

♦  Rs36,384-cr worth 62 projects in progress

♦ New units will generate 78,916 jobs