Khosla proposes Investment Regions in Andhra

Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and NRI venture capitalist Vinod Khosla today agreed to work on developing the Investment Regions in Andhra Pradesh as part of a larger effort to make India a viable competitor to China in industrial sector.

According to the concept proposed by Khosla during his meeting with the Andhra Pradesh chief minister at New Delhi on Tuesday, Investment Regions would be located in strategic places in the state that would attract investments from across the globe, official sources told Business Standard.

"The difference between special economic zones (SEZs) and Investment Regions will be roughly like this ""- investment region will comprise two or more SEZs at one place," they said.

As per the discussions, once the locations for investment regions are identified, Vinod Khosla will use his contacts to help bring in investments to those places, rather than limiting himself to considering his own investments.

After learning about Khosla's plans and the role he intends to play in industrialisation of the state, the chief minister immediately offered to work together with Khosla and also assured full support of his government.

Though the specific locations were not identified for developing the said Investment Regions during the meeting, Vinod Khosla, however, is said to have evinced interest in Hyderabad after getting to know from the chief minister about the proposed projects such as 165 km-long outer ring road project, satellite townships, hardware park and international airport among others.