VIJAYAWADA: Industries and Commerce Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy has welcomed doyens in the petrochemical industry, and investors to explore Andhra Pradesh for the natural competitive advantages it offers. Participating in the India Chem-2021 conference in Delhi on Wednesday, the minister said AP is one of the champion states poised to propel the Indian economy forward under the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ initiative. “Home to numerous oil and gas discoveries, the state is looking to build self-sufficiency in petrochemical products and drive economies of scale for downstream chemical industries,” he said.
Stating that AP is the only state where three national industrial corridors run across districts, he said these corridors dovetail the largest petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) region, which spreads across 640 sq.km between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, in the country.“In these uncertain times, we must explore synergies between the National Industrial Corridor Development programme with the PCPIR development.”
Stating that AP has attracted marquee investments in recent times within chemical and specialty chemical industries that do not have dependencies on basic feedstock availability, he said about 70 mega industries and more than 5000 MSMEs had invested ($2.4 billion) in the state, contributing to 8% of India’s production value, as on 2019-20 fiscal.
“Though there are many glass makers, specialised glassessuch as those used in CT scans, medical tubes are extremely difficult to make,” he said and felt that if the Union government could establish partnerships with noted players such as Saint Gobain, then strategic support could be provided to institutions like the AP MedTech Zone in Visakhapatnam.