Minister for Information Technology (IT), Electronics, and Education, Nara Lokesh, announced on Saturday that a consultative forum will be established, enabling investors to engage with the Government to address their concerns directly.
Speaking at the Southern Region Council seminar of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), held in Vijayawada, Lokesh reiterated his Government’s goal of creating 20 lakh jobs in the State. The seminar mainly addressed the challenges investors have faced over the past five years and their expectations from the Government going forward.
Lokesh explained that forming a consultative forum will allow investors direct access to the Government, with the relevant Government Order (GO) for its establishment to be issued within a week. He stressed that while governments may change, governance remains consistent, and if successive administrations alter agreements and decisions made by their predecessors, it creates significant issues for investors.
Reflecting on the past, Lokesh noted that the State and the nation faced substantial losses following the decision to revoke power purchase agreements.
Lokesh recalled the three-decade-long association of his father, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, with CII, and highlighted the visionary interventions and groundbreaking achievements made in both the unified Andhra Pradesh and the newly bifurcated state.
Reaffirming the State’s commitment to ‘Viksit Andhra Pradesh@2047’, in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat@2047’, Lokesh noted that the State is making rapid progress towards these goals.
As the Minister for Human Resource Development, Lokesh is dedicated to transforming the KG to PG curriculum in the State. He also highlighted Andhra Pradesh’s ambition to attract significant investments in infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and data centres. He outlined a targeted approach with specialised industrial clusters in Anantapur, Kadapa, and Prakasam for biofuel, Guntur and Krishna for capital development, and northern Andhra Pradesh focusing on the pharmaceutical and IT industries.
Given the positive response from seminar participants, who expressed their willingness to invest heavily in the State, Lokesh assured them that a dedicated wing of the Economic Development Board (EDB) would be created to ensure that investors who had previously established units in the State would receive the necessary incentives.
“We have revived the EoDB, which was active during the previous TDP government but was dismantled by the subsequent YSRCP administration. Many who had worked with the EoDB had moved to other States following its closure, but they are now ready to return, and a young IAS officer has already been appointed as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO),” Lokesh confirmed.