30,349 MSME units set up in State since 2014

Amaravati: The State government is tracking 2,622 large and mega projects with committed investment of Rs 15.48 lakh crore and employment potential of 32.35 lakh, explained Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu while releasing the ninth white paper in the series of 10, on Monday at Undavalli in Guntur.

Out of these, 810 projects have gone into production, with committed investment of Rs 1.77 lakh crore and providing employment to 2.51 lakh people, he revealed.

Marquee companies that have started commercial production in AP include Isuzu Motors, Pepsi, Cadbury’s (Mondelez), Kellogg’s, Greenply, Gamesa, Suzlon Energy, Colgate Palmolive, Berger Paints, Aurobindo Pharma, Laurus Labs, Hospira Healthcare, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Lupin, Rexam etc.

Automotive sector attracted projects with committed investment of Rs 24,615 crore with companies such as Kia Motors and its vendors, Isuzu Motors, Apollo Tyres, Ashok Leyland, Bharat Forge, Hero Group and others setting up their facilities, he explained.

One in every 5 mobile handsets produced in India is now a ‘Made in Andhra’ product, with companies such as Foxconn (Rising Star Mobiles) and Celkon Mobiles having set up facilities. Over 3 - 3.5 million phones are produced every month in AP today.

Total employment of 7.70 lakh including 2.51 lakh employment from large & mega projects, 3.30 lakh in MSME, 1.78 lakh placements facilitated by APSSDC, and more than 13,000 placements facilitated by APITA.

The Chief Minister said 8.66 lakh beneficiaries have been covered under APSSDC training programmes over the last 4.5 years. Mukhyamantri Yuvanestham scheme was launched to provide monthly allowance to unemployed youth to help them pursue skill development courses. Over 3.3 lakh youth were enrolled under the scheme. A sum of Rs 81 crore was disbursed under the scheme till December 25, 2018.

International Institute of Digital Technologies (IIDT), Tirupati, was made operational in 2017 to impart advanced courses in Business Analytics and Cyber Security. Chandrababu Naidu said industries and service sector play key role in creation of wealth and development of economy. He stressed the need for rapid growth in industry and service sector in the State.

The Chief Minister said agro industries should be increased for improving growth rate in agriculture sector. He criticised the Central government for depriving the Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh which hampered industrial growth in the State. Naidu pointed out that the Centre had failed to release grant for Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor.

It had also failed to fulfill the bifurcation promises of setting up a Greenfield Petro Chemical Complex and steel plant in Kadapa. Referring to the measures taken up by the State government to encourage industrial growth, Naidu said the State government enacted Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act -2017 and introduced ingle desk portal to provide 69 services from 19 departments.

The State government released Rs 3,675 crore including Rs 1,816 crore for MSME sector towards incentives for industrial growth since June 2014. As many as 30,349 MSME units were set up since 2014 fetching revenue of Rs 14,292 cr and providing employment to 3.3 lakh persons.

A decision was taken to set up MSME parks in all the 175 constituencies and so far 31 MSME parks were set up in 1,317.97 acres at a cost of Rs 270.43 crore. A separate corporation was set up for MSME sector and extended a loan of Rs 82,097 crore during the period 2014-18.

The Chief Minister said Partnership Summits were conducted in Visakhapatnam thrice to attract investments. As a result several industries came forward to set up their units in AP including in food processing sector Sumeru, Capricorn, Lavajju, Avanti Seeds, Podaran and Avergen, Patanjali, Jain Irriation, Parley, Jersey, Indus coffee, Future Group, Continental Coffee, international flavours, Godrej, SH Group, Tata Food, ITC, Con Agro and Manpasad came forward to set up their units in the State.

In textiles sector Boroi, Text Port, Mohan Spintek, Indian Design, Shahi Exports, Govindaraja Textiles, SAR Denim, Hage Industries, Arvind Group, Nisha Designs. Guntur Textile Park and Tarakeswara Textiles Park came forward to set up their units.

In IT sector, Foxcon, Plextronix, Dixon, Relieane, TCL and Voltas came forward to set up units. In pharmaceutical sector, Spyra Health Care, Dr Reddy Labs, Lupin, Larus Labs, Aurobindo Pharma, Divis Labs and Natco Pharmaceuticals came forward. In tourism sector, Novotel Hotel in Vijayawada, Holiday Inn and Taj Inn Tirupati, My Fortune in Guntur, JW Mariot and Sun Ray Resort in Visakhapatnam were set up.

The State government has been developing three industrial nodes at Krishnapatnam, Orwakal and Hindupuram in Rayalaseema region, Naidu said. Industrial corridors will be developed at Visakhapatnam, Srikalahasti, Machilipatnam and Donakonda. Mega Food Parks will come up in Vizianagaram, Kadapa and Chittoor.

The Chief Minister said 650 acres was allotted for the Mega Seed Park in Kurnool district and Rs 6,553 acres for Mega Industrial Park in Kadapa and Fintech Valley in Visakhapatnam. The Chief Minister pointed out that the State government was providing uninterrupted power supply to industries.

Praising the tourism sector for good growth, the Chief Minister said the trial run of Kurnool airport was carried out successfully with the landing of first flight on Monday. He said flight services will be introduced from Dagadarthi and Kuppam soon. He said pharma sector would be developed in Orwakal and texiles in Nagari.