Minister for Industries, Commerce, Handloom, Information Technology and Skill Development Mekapati Goutham Reddy (50), who died of a cardiac arrest on Monday, made his mark as a Minister by handling five portfolios, a record in the State.
Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy described the demise as a personal loss and said Goutham Reddy had been his friend since college days.
Soon after being sworn in as a Cabinet Minister, Goutham Reddy had laid his focus on skill development in the fields of Information Technology, and IT-Enabled Services. He took the initiative of framing the Andhra Pradesh Electronics Manufacturing Policy 2021–2024 and Andhra Pradesh IT Policy 2021–2024.
The employment generated in the IT and ITES in the State was about 35,940 in 2019–2020 financial year, which increased to 40,717 and 45,474 in the next two fiscal years (till December 2021). The percentage of women working in the IT and ITES sectors also rose to 36.2%.
Electronic manufacturing cluster
One of the highlights of his tenure was the launch of the YSR Electronic Manufacturing Cluster at Kopparthy in Kadapa district, the first to be approved by the Centre under the EMC 2.0 scheme. Set up in 500 acres, the cluster offers the best in class infrastructure with an investment potential of more than ₹8,000 crore, with the projected employment generation for more than 25,000 people.
The IT and ITES exports from the State also reached ₹852.64 crore in 2020-2021 from ₹846.77 crore in 2019 – 2020. Even as the global economy endured the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, there was an indication of increase of exports from the State.
Work-From-Hometown
A project dear to Goutham Reddy’s heart was the Work-From-Hometown (WFHT) programme which aimed at setting up co-working spaces supported by bandwidth and cybersecurity infrastructure for all IT employees who came back to their hometowns due to COVID-19. A proposal to set up WFHT facilities in every Parliamentary constituency has been approved.
