The state will have a third National Investment Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) at Ongole in addition to the two at Chittoor and Medak.
The central government agreed, in principle, to sanction a third NIMZ for the state in order to maintain regional balance, Union minister of commerce, industry and textiles Anand Sharma told reporters here on Saturday.
When chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy urged the Union minister to sanction one more NIMZ in addition to the two NIMZs already sanctioned by the Centre, Sharma readily agreed. Andhra Pradesh becomes the second state after Maharashtra to have three NIMZs. Anand Sharma said that the NIMZs would be offered a number of incentives including exemption from capital gains tax and investor-friendly labour laws. They are proposed to increase the total share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP from 16 per cent to 25 per cent.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be constituted to establish the manufacturing zones. Roads and other infrastructure will be provided by the Centre whereas the state will provide the land. The viability gap funding will be used to develop internal infrastructure in NIMZs. The Union minister said 46 mega handloom clusters would also be sanctioned , taking the total number of clusters to 99.
Among the countries that are showing interest are Russia, China, UK, Germany and Japan. A world pharma trade centre will come up at Hyderabad and an Indian institute of fashion technology at Vizag.