PNS|Visakhapatnam
Andhra Pradesh Global Investment Summit 2023 drew leading industrialists and delegates of several MNCs to the port city of Visakhapatnam on Friday. Most of the top business leaders and several senior ministers unveiled the future investment plans for the State.
Sumant Sinha, Chairman & Managing Director of ReNew Power underlined the unique strengths of Andhra in the renewable energy space. “The MoU between the AP government and ReNew Power was made possible in a very short time mainly due to the visionary guidance of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy,” said Sinha.
Hari Mohan Bangur, Chairman of Shree Cement, praised Andhra Pradesh’s investor-friendly policies and its skilled workforce. He said, “We are looking to invest Rs 5000 cr that will create direct and indirect employment for 5000 people and will lead to an Rs 1000 cr contribution to the state exchequer annually.”
Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairman of Apollo Hospital said, “The theme of the conference which says where abundance meets prosperity seems perfect from what we have seen. But I would like to add one more word to it which is good health because with good health comes prosperity and abundance. As a family of Andhra Pradesh, we are putting aside Rs 500 cr towards a state-of-the-art innovation centre that will take up artificial intelligence, and machine learning and more than anything else work with research centres globally to bring accessible, affordable, and high-end medicine including genetic mapping into this country this state more than anything else in our wonderful campus at Chittoor.”
Puneet Dalmia, Managing Director of Dalmia Bharat Group said, “Our association with AP started around 15 years ago during the tenure of CM’s father Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy and we established a cement plant in Kadapa district with an investment of around Rs 1000 crore.”
Sajjan Bhajanka, Chairman of Century Plyboards, also underlined the business-friendly climate of the State. “Our dream journey in AP started around 14 months back when I met the CM of AP. We were a little skeptical about our plant in AP. But in that meeting, the location was decided and the nodal officers were decided and that was the day. Usually putting up an industry is like a hurdle race, sometimes hurdles are defined sometimes only when you move ahead some self-help NGOs, and vested interests will come and create problems, but we have not come across any such problem in Andhra. We are putting up 3 plants instead of only one planned initially and they all will be completed before December. Andhra will be our first choice for future expansions,” said Bhajanka.
BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder Chairman Cyient recalled his long association with the state. “Seventeen years ago I started a facility in Kakinada. In 2010 under the late Dr YSR, I started my second project in Vizag. Today, I assure the CM, we will grow our business in Vizag to double digits. But HM Jagan has done amazing work in the last few years in education. Rs 1.12 lakh crore has been spent on education in AP. Spending money on education is a long-term vision that CM Jagan Reddy has.
Masahiro Yamaguchi, MD, Toray industries India Limited stated, “We are investing another Rs 200 cr and doubling the capacity that will be in operation by the end of this year.”
Kab Dong Lee, Kia Motors, speaking at the event, acknowledged the key role of the State government in the company’s success.
Sumit Bidani CEO Knauf stated, “We commissioned our state-of-the-art plant in 2019 at Sricity, Tirupati District of AP. With an initial investment of 40 million USD and the plant provides direct employment to more than 200 employees.”
