Investor confidence and industrial growth in the State are at an all-time high, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said, brushing aside criticism from the Telugu Desam Party as a ‘smear campaign launched with the help of friendly media houses’.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic which has shaken the world, investor confidence had remained high in Andhra Pradesh and the industrialists are happy. A.P. is topping the country in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) for the third consecutive year. In the EoDB ranking, 100 points are marked for the opinion of industrialists, and all of them have given a positive feedback on the friendly investor policies in our State. Even then, the TDP and the highly polarised media have not stopped spewing venom,” said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during a discussion in the Assembly on Monday on Industries and Investments.
Referring to ‘CAG data’, the Chief Minister said that the State’s finances are in sound health.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy began his address by stating that the Centre has come forward to give a bulk drug industry grant of ₹1,000 crore for which 17 States competed. “The Centre has allotted only three bulk drug industries out of which A.P. has been allotted one while the other two have been allotted to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
“Meanwhile, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and his party leaders have written to the Centre asking it to cancel the proposal. TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has written a letter to the Centre about this, indicating the level to which the TDP has stooped. Mr. Naidu, during his term as Chief Minister, had incentivised Divi’s Pharma Company. How is he now raising the issue of pollution? The Centre has given a grant of ₹1,000 crore so that an alkaline treatment plant can be set up. The plant can generate 30,000 jobs and yet the TDP is trying to stall the project,” said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Stating that the investments garnered from Davos where he had gone to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit earlier this year have outweighed the entire investments that came to the State during the TDP’s rule, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that he wants to ensure that all sections of the State prosper, irrespective of caste or party affiliation. “Mr. Chandrababu Naidu and his men got people to dress up and sign fake MoUs,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged.
“Our government is focussed on the MSME sector which provides direct and indirect employment to 12 lakh people. We have given industrial incentives worth ₹2,858 crore, out of which the MSME sector alone got ₹2,500 crore, of which ₹2,200 crore are dues that have accumulated from Mr. Naidu’s time as Chief Minister. We have given incentives so that these industries run and provide jobs,” said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
In the past three years, 99 industries have gained steam in the State with an investment of ₹46,280 crore providing jobs to 62,541 persons, and 40,000 more jobs would be generated through four Central Government PSUs that would soon be coming up, he said. Discussions for setting up 10 major industries are under way, he said, adding that the investments have begun coming in as the State government was able to instill confidence among investors by assuring a transparent administration.
“Like never before, the captains of the industry such as the Tatas, Birlas, Adanis and other big-ticket companies have started looking towards Andhra Pradesh and are coming to invest in the State,“ he said.
The YSR Electronic Manufacturing Cluster and Mega Industrial Hub coming up at Kopparthi and the Steel Plant at Jammalamadugu will provide jobs to locals and increase the standard of living. The State government is helping the youth acquire real-world employable skills through skill development, he said.
