The Andhra Pradesh government has set its sights on achieving the first place in the country in the ease of doing business parameters of the World Bank by the end of the current financial year.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the State was presently ranked second in the country next only to Gujarat in ease of doing business and the government had focused its attention on taking it to the top slot by the end of the fiscal. Andhra Pradesh was lagging behind Gujarat and Maharashtra in terms of foreign direct investment and was able to attract US $ 6 billion compared to US $ 8 billion of Maharashtra.
“My government is focussed on ensuring that the State occupies one of the two top slots in the coming days and we are vigorously pursuing the matter,” he said. The Chief Minister was speaking after formally inaugurating the first phase of the Mondelez International's manufacturing plant here on Monday. The US $ 190 million project had an installed capacity of producing 60,000 tonnes employing 400 people. The number would be scaled up to 2.5 lakh tonne and 1,600 in the coming three to four years. Mr. Naidu said the government had decided to promote accelerated industrial development as also concentrate on leveraging the full potential of agriculture sector as it would propel the service sector generating huge employment. This was crucial for the newly-formed State that inherited a few problems on account of bifurcation and fuelling industrial and agricultural growth was the lasting solution to overcome these problems.
In this context, he wanted the management of the Sri City to work hard for attracting at least 15 units every quarter and make it the best place for investments and work. The Sri City industrial corridor presently had 80 units operating from it with an estimated investment of Rs. 23,000 crore and generating 35,000 jobs.
Tri-city industrial corridor
To accelerate industrial growth, the government had decided to develop a tri-city industrial corridor involving Nellore, Tirupati and Chennai besides ensuring that the government played an active role in providing skill development to aspiring youth. Mr. Naidu, however, had a word of caution for the youth advising them to maintain discipline at work place.
“This is essential as any indiscipline including the union activity will adversely impact the investments. I am sparing no efforts to attract investments from across the globe and these efforts will get a boost if the aspiring youth behaved in a disciplined manner,” he said.
Mendelez International executive vice presidents Daniel Myers and Maurizio Brusadelli said the company had crossed a major milestone in the launch of the Sri City plant. The new plant, the seventh in the country and the largest facility in the Asia Pacific, would become multi-category food campus in the subsequent phases. The company would continue to invest behind the brands, routes to market and people to drive sustainable growth.
“We are investing today and building the capacity for tomorrow,” Mr. Brusadelli asserted.
