Assocham suggests infra development outside Hyderabad

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) suggested the Telangana government should take new infrastructure projects outside Hyderabad to bridge the divide between the capital city and other parts of the newly-formed state.

“Developing infrastructure in Telangana is essential for reducing costs of economic activities,” the apex industry body noted in its strategy paper titled ‘Realising Growth Potential of Telangana’.

Releasing the report here on Thursday, Assocham general secretary, DS Rawat, and its southern regional development council chairman, Ravindra Sannareddy, told mediapersons that the paper had been submitted to the state chief minister.

They also said Assocham would be holding ‘Invest Telangana’ summit in December for mobilising investments in the state.

Sourcing data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the strategy paper pointed out that Telangana today has live investments worth Rs 3.3 lakh crore. Real estate (28 per cent), services (other than financial 23 per cent), electricity (19 per cent), irrigation (16.5 per cent) and manufacturing ( 12 per cent) sectors were the major investment destinations in the state.

Assocham, however, did not come out with specific details of the various projects currently under execution in Telangana. It stated that 70 per cent of the projects were being implemented, while 20.2 per cent worth investments were in the announcement stage. The implementation of 7.4 per cent investments was stalled.

With regard to infrastructure development, Assocham said the government should focus on a strategy using the public investment exclusively for the development of the primary sector and private investment for industry and services sectors.

“In line with this strategy, the state needs to restrict itself to the role of regulation while the private sector develops and manages the industry and services sector,” the industry body stated.