TIRUPATI: Despite the beating that the economy has taken on account of the Covid-19 pandemic-induced crisis, investments continue to pour into Chittoor district, giving the much-needed stimulus for industrial development in the border district.
Attending a meeting of industrial exports incentives committee, officials at the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and the District Industries Centre (DIC) announced that 20 medium industries would be set up in the district, while 171 units including small-scale industries are in the pipeline.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, DIC general manager E. Pratap said, “There are 177 major and mega projects in the district with an investment of Rs 24,000 crore which are providing 84,000 jobs. In addition to them, there are 9,271 MSMEs with about Rs 7,000-crore investments, providing 1.17 lakh jobs."
Now, the DIC has cleared around 260 applications through the single desk system and of the twenty newly-coming up medium industries, five were reserved for the SC/ST beneficiaries. "Proposals from 20 medium industries to set up plants have been approved and they are expected to generate employment for 6,841 people", the DIC GM added.
The APIIC and the DIC want to improve on this ecosystem with supply chain links, technology repository, regulatory reforms, and a pipeline of entrepreneurs.
Spread over 15,359 sq. km and having a population of 41.70 lakh, Chittoor has 72.36 per cent literacy rate and the district's domestic product value was estimated to be around $4.96 billion, having industrial infrastructure, especially for IT, automobiles, and food processing units.
In AP, the district ranks first in mango, milk and tomato production, second in sericulture and fourth in poultry products. It leads in sectors like agro and food processing, electronics, textiles, automobiles and auto components, and heavy engineering.
Over the past few years, the district has been witnessing a decent growth in exports with its proximity to cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and the Krishnapatnam port, and having multiple channels of connectivity like road, rail, and air links, DIC officials said.
According to the DIC, in addition to the auto clusters, a world-class automotive supplier's manufacturing centre on a PPP basis dedicated to auto component manufacturers is in the pipeline and an inland container depot to be set up soon in the district. The industries wing also has plans to develop an ultra-mega food park in Kuppam with state-of-art infrastructure and there are proposals to set up a mango development board at Tirupati and a banana development board as well.
