N Chandrababu Naidu pitches for investment from pharmaceutical companies

Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu pitched for investments in Andhra Pradesh from the pharmaceutical companies from across the country, who were present at the three-day 68th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

Mr Naidu tried to hard-sell the resources of the state and the TD government’s policies at the IPC, held here at Andhra University campus. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Naidu said that he laid emphasis on the pharma sector even during his earlier stint at the Chief Minister’s office to reduce import dependency of both medications as well as medical equipment.

“Andhra Pradesh has been home to many USFDA-approved companies. Now, I ask the Pharma CEOs to look forward to investing in the AP Med Tech Zone in Visakhapatnam, which is the first-of-its kind in the country to manufacture medical equipment and a testing facility open for innovators and industrialists,” Mr Naidu said. He also explained the advantages of the state, including airport and port connectivity, surplus power with the discoms, land bank, human resources of the state, etc.

“Last Year, AP bagged second place in India in terms of ease of doing business  and this year we ascended to first place. During the Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam in January, we entered MoUs with various companies worth Rs 4.7 lakh crore and about 60 percent of them have already realised.

According to the RBI’s recent report, Andhra Pradesh topped in attracting industrial investments in the country by 15.8 per cent of the total investments in 2014-15. With the growing economic conditions, people started spending on their health. India is the only country having a potential of double-digit growth and a huge demographic dividend,” he added. IPCA president S.V. Veeramani, LOC chairman Dr Rao Vadlaamudi, LOC secretary Dr T.V. Narayana and others were present.