Govt clears proposals for 25 new industries

The state government has yet again come up with another ambitious programme  --- 25 industries,  Rs.40,379 crore investment and employment opportunities to over 41,000 youths.

In 2011, as against 44 projects that had been cleared, only 11 had materialised. As against a projected employment for 1,00,700, the industries created employment for only 25,000 youths. In January this year,  during the partnership summit,  the governmentt signed MoUs with 265 industries for an investment of Rs 6.49 lakh crore, with an employment potential of 6.78 lakh. How many of them would materialise is anybody’s guess.

The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB)  which met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy cleared proposals for  25 industries with an estimated  investment of  Rs 40,379 crore.

They include 20 industries for which the state government had signed MoUs in the partnership summit in January this year.

If all them materialise, which is highly unlikely going by the government’s track record, they are expected to create an employment for  41,180 youths. Of the 25 projects, MoUs were signed to 20 of them during partnership summit.

Major industries minister J Geetha Reddy admitted that the state government had to compete with other states in attracting investments. “Some states are giving all facilities free of cost. We have to compete with such states. We are trying to attract the investors within the existing industrial policy,” Geetha Reddy said, adding :”We too are relaxing norms and are trying to attract investors considering the investment and  size of the industry.”

More than anything, what is scaring the industrialists to move away from the state is the political uncertainty and acute power shortage, one official said.

At the Wednesday’s meeting the proposals for 25 projects were cleared covering eight sectors. These units are expected to come up in Kadapa, Guntur, Krishna, Nellore, Visakhapatnam, Mahbubnagar, Adilabad, West Godavari and Vizianagaram districts.