Andhra Pradesh has set a target of attracting $7 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the next 10 years, the bulk of it in the infrastructure and pharmaceutical sectors. A Rs 2,000 crore special economic zone (SEZ) near Visakhapatnam and a Pharma City sprawling across 1,900 acres in the same area, along with an airport and a seaport, will absorb the bulk of the investments.
Last week, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and minister for major industries K Vidyadhara Rao returned after a three-day visit to Malaysia and Singapore where they signed memorandums of understanding for several infrastructure projects and also organised roadshows for the SEZ and the Pharma City.
The state government, with organisations like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), will follow this up in the coming weeks by organising several Asian investors' meetings, starting with a CII-sponsored Technology Summit in Hyderabad on October 8 and 9. This will be followed by a Ficci-sponsored Asean Business meet on October 18 in Hyderabad -- an extension of the same meeting in Delhi a day earlier. The CII is also organising its flagship Partnership Summit on January 9 and 10, 2003.
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The focus at these meetings, says Rao, will be the SEZ and the Pharma City. He feels the state's targeted FDI is not too ambitious, considering the world-class infrastructure being planned. Finance minister Y Ramakrishnudu agrees. Over 530 FDI proposals, involving an investment of Rs 15,000 crore, have been approved for Andhra Pradesh in recent years. A third of these ventures have already gone into production. In the year 2000, 56 FDI approvals, with foreign equity of Rs 615.61 crore, were received by Andhra Pradesh. In 2001, the state received 18 FDI proposals, with an outlay of Rs 4,228.50 crore.
Naidu had visited Malaysia and Singapore earlier also, soon after becoming chief minister. Among others, he had then mentioned the Proton car project. There is still no sign of the venture. Subsequently, Naidu visited the US, the UK, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Hong Kong and China.