Buggana showcases AP in Mumbai, highlights state\'s potential for investment

VIJAYAWADA: Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath has showcased Andhra Pradesh at a Mumbai event by saying that the state is having all the requisite infrastructure for setting up industries and promoting business in a big way.

He was holding a roadshow in the western metropolis on Monday by way of a promotional campaign for the upcoming Global Investors Summit in Visakhapatnam.

The finance minister said AP was having experts and officials with requisite expertise to help investors set up industrial units. “AP is having either a port or an airport for every 50km distance, and a well-established port- based infrastructure in addition to having a lot of agri-based products.

He said the state has a lot of opportunities to invest in sectors like automobile, IT, handloom, textiles, healthcare, petro-chemicals, medical equipment and that AP is playing a major role in the pharmaceuticals sector. It also has four electronic manufacturing clusters, he said.

Referring to the department of promotion of industry and internal trade statistics, the minister said AP received investments worth Rs 5,000 crore last year. The state remained in top position to register rapid industrial growth, he said.

The minister said that the AP government would develop 27 terminals by 2029 to facilitate easy business and commercial activity. “Blessed with a long coast, several ports, fishing harbours and jetties, there is no limit for development in AP,” he said and added that the metros like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru were extending their reach towards AP.

Maintaining that AP was having skilled youth power, he said AP’s share in GDP was going up and that it registered a share of 10 per cent in the nation’s export potential.

Referring to APIIC chairman Mettu Govinda Reddy, the minister said the chairman who had started working for Rs 50 a day has reached a stage of offering employment to 5,000 people. He also said chief minister Jagan Reddy has set the stone for developing a steel plant in Kadapa at a cost of Rs 8,800 crore.