VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has set aside Rs 2,755.17 crore for industrial and infrastructure development in the State in 2022-23. In the annual State Budget presented on Friday, the government earmarked Rs 250 crore for Kadapa Steel Plant, Rs 200 crore for YSR Electronic Manufacturing cluster, Rs 150 crore for development of Machilipatnam port and Rs 100 crore each for Ramayapatnam and Bhavanapadu ports.
Asserting that small and medium industries form the foundation of the ‘third pillar of livelihood’ and are central to the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG)- 8 and 9 of ‘Decent Work’ and ‘Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure’, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath said the State has huge investment potential in food and agro-processing, textiles and spinning, marine products, mineral products, iron and steel, cement, granite, ferro alloys, engineering goods, automobiles, defense and aerospace, electronic hardware, biotech, and retail trade.
The Chittoor-Nellore region figures in the top-10 manufacturing destinations in India, attracting domestic and international investors alike. He said the State has improved its exports performance and was ranked fourth in 2020-21 from seventh in 2019-20 due to an increase in exports to $16.8 billion, a growth of 13.8 per cent in a year.
Till January 31, 2022, 11 large and mega projects were established with an investment of Rs 2,048 crore providing employment to 3,989 people. In addition, 55 large and mega projects are under various stages of implementation with an investment of Rs 44,097 crore. Through YSR Navodayam, 1,78,919 MSME accounts worth more than Rs 7,976 crore were restructured to support and nurture the growth of MSMEs under the One-Time Restructuring of MSME loans’ scheme.
“There are 10 investment proposals under the IT sector at advanced stages of grounding with an investment of over Rs 500 crore in the next 2 to 5 years. They will generate 20,000 jobs . In addition, there are 15 investment proposals under the electronic system design and manufacturing sector at initial stages of implementation for the generation of 25,000 jobs with an investment of over Rs 4,000 crore over next 3 years,” the FM noted.
CII welcomes Budget
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-AP chapter welcomed the Budget proposal and attributed the performance in exports to the government’s proactive approach to ensure business continuity during Covid. The CII lauded the government’s move to enter into a concession agreement for the development of Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport under PPP mode.