VIJAYAWADA: A delegation led by finance minister Buggana Rajendranath has met and invited several top industrialists of India to the Global Investors Summit scheduled in Visakhapatnam on March 3 and March 4.

The delegation met leading industrialists including Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Group, Nadir Godrej, managing director of Godrej Industries, and Ashok P. Hinduja, chairman of Hinduja Group. Rajendranath invited them personally to the global event.

Business and industrial giants Mukesh Ambani and Sajjan Jindal apart from a high-level team from Tata Sons will be seen at the two-day event. The main focus of the summit is on aerospace and defence-related industries, apart from MSMEs and start-ups.

“Last September, Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran called on Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Both discussed investments in Andhra Pradesh in this regard,” sources said.

Aerospace industries will come up near Anantapur, as it is closer to Bengaluru, where Indian Air Force Academy and technical college are located. Some units might come up in Kurnool as well.

Chief Minister’s main focus will remain on MSMEs and start-ups, which create more employment with less investment, unlike major and heavy industries. Since MSMEs cause pollution, high-end technology will be sourced from Germany to avoid the same.

At the same time, a tower with one lakh square feet of space is being created in Visakhapatnam city to house the activities of start-ups.

While focusing on port-led development, IT and logistic parks will be set up closer to Bhavanapadu Port in the Srikakulam district as well as Machilipatnam and Ramayapatnam ports.

Sources said all proposed development will be spread all over Andhra Pradesh to ensure that the state develops uniformly. They said the size of investments the state is looking for will be ₹1.87 lakh crore and above.

Buggana Rajendranath has explained to top industrialists during his visits about the potential business opportunities available in AP that make it an ideal destination for investments. AP is one among the three states, which have secured a bulk drug park. He said that such an ecosystem will suit Piramal Group’s green-field projects. He thanked Ajay Piramal for educating over 10,000 women from tribal habitations in Araku Valley in antenatal and postnatal care through his group’s CSR activities.

The minister highlighted the strength of AP in the farm sector. He highlighted for Nadir Godrej the presence of 10,641 Rythu Bandhu Kendras and farmer assurance centres that help farmers in utilising technology and innovation towards increasing their farm output.

Rajendranath explained to the industrialists how AP has consistently ranked No. 1 in Ease of Doing Business.

The minister’s delegation included handloom and textiles principal secretary K. Sunita and head of investment promotion board Y.S.R. Rajeev Kumar.

The next focus of the Buggana Rajendranath-led delegation will be Hyderabad on February 24.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle