Andhra attracts 1.74 lakh crore

Visakhapatnam: Investment proposals picked up pace on the second day of the CII Partnership Summit here on Sunday with the AP government inking 285 MoUs, entailing cumulative investments of Rs 1,74,568 crore and with potential to create 2,86,371 jobs.

Energy sector topped the charts with 34 MoUs and Rs 1,11,921 crore in investments that will generate 1.3 lakh jobs. Aerospace and defence stood at a distant second with 10 MoUs, Rs 9,406 crore investments and 6,000 jobs.

The government signed maximum number of 169 MoUs in food processing sector, which will bring in Rs 3,534 crore and generate 48,398 jobs. As many as 25 MoUs were signed in textiles sector, fetching an investment of Rs 5,337 crore, while 25 MoUs were signed in health sector with an investment of Rs 5,090 crore. In IT and electronics space, 22 agreements were signed for Rs 39,281 cr.

With this, the total number of MoUs signed in first two days reached 364, fetching an investment of Rs 2,18,814 crore and providing employment opportunity to 3,84,662 people. On the first day, automotive sector topped the list with 10 proposals and Rs 9,406 crore in investments. AP Minister for Industries N Amaranatha Reddy said that a number of MoUs will be signed on Monday, the final day of the summit. The state government expects the current iteration of the summit to attract over Rs 5 lakh investments.

Interacting with the media, he underlined the need for the central government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh. “Investment flow into the State will double from the current levels if AP gets special category tag. Moreover, most of the industrial incentives that the State is paying now will be borne by the Centre,” he said.

By P Madhusudhan Reddy