VIJAYAWADA: Advisor to NITI Aayog Sudhendu Sinha on Friday praised policies of Andhra Pradesh government for being innovative and exemplary in attracting investments.
Speaking at the first virtual meeting organised by AP government with World Economic Forum as part of making Andhra Pradesh an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing hub, he expressed confidence that the state will pave way for other states in the field of EVs. He maintained that AP has potential even to lead the global transition towards green mobility, emerging as “light house” of EV segment.
Sudhendu Sinha said to realise net-zero carbon emission target by 2070, Andhra Pradesh has been steadily taking steps towards green mobility by way of using non-fossil fuels and focusing on future renewable energy solutions.
Addressing the virtual CEO-Ministerial Dialogue, industries minister Gudivada Amarnath mentioned that the state is propelling itself towards growth in EV segment by working on development of charging network and establishing battery swapping stations across AP. He mentioned that integrated renewable energy storage projects of 5.23 GW capacity, including solar, wind and pumped storage hydro projects, will lead to greener manufacturing and facilitate charging of EV vehicles in the state.
AP Economic Development Board CEO J.V.N. Subramanyam pointed out that AP is rich in 48 minerals, such as barite and silica, which are critical raw materials in battery manufacturing. He announced that AP has attracted ₹47,000 crore of investments so far, which is a testimony to the state’s capability in meeting the $4 billion target set for itself.
He underlined that the state is 99.3 percent SLA compliant and has facilitated 50,000 approvals so far through its Single Window Portal.
Industries, commerce and export promotion director Srijana Gummalla said the state aspires to be an enabler in building an ecosystem for EV segment, including manufacturing of components and ancillaries. She disclosed that AP is targeting to have 10 lakh EVs running in the state both in commercial and public ecosystems.
Among the multitude of policy suggestions offered by CEOs during the dialogue, key points include availability of green power, building talent pool in engineering and R&D, developing EV ecosystem and hubs for the sector, and curating policy interventions for battery swapping.
Principal secretary (Transport) M.T. Krishna Babu, special chief secretary (Energy) K Vijayanand, and top representatives of Kia India, Ola Electric, Evage, Gogoro, C4V, Avera, Bounce, Causis, Tata Power, Reliance New, Shell India, Epsilon Carbon, Hyundai Motors, EV Now, Hop Electric, Foxconn and JBM, among others, attended the high-level meeting.
