Andhra woos MNCs to invest in Vizag chemical complex

A delegation of the Andhra Pradesh government, led by major industries minister J Geeta Reddy, today tried to impress upon the representatives of multinationals like Shell and Mobil to invest in the proposed mega chemical complex in the port city of Vizag.

The delegation made a presentation on the strengths and advantages of Andhra Pradesh as a destination for investments to some of the big names in the global chemical industry that took part in the 'Chemical Round Table' conference held by the foreign direct investments (FDIs) group in the national capital on Wednesday.

The state delegation witnessed a similar effort from other states like Orissa and West Bengal, which are in the fray for potential FDI in the chemical sector.

The meet was also witnessed the participation of Indian companies such as Reliance, Tata Chemicals, Aditya Biral Group, ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, among others, officials said.

The prominent foreign companies with whom the state government officials interacted included Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Citi Group Inc, Dow Chemical Company, DSM Chemicals, Exxon Moil Chemical Company, Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), and others.

The state delegation told Business Standard that the global event was primarily meant to showcase Visakhapatnam and Haldia (West Bengal) as the two investment destinations for chemical sector.

It may be recalled that the state government has proposed a mega chemical complex in a 20,000-acre area in Visakhapatnam. According to the officials, there is a scope to attract an estimated Rs 70,000 crore FDI in the chemical sector.

Though West Bengal chief minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee himself was slated to interact with the representatives of these companies in the evening to attract FDI to his state, the Andhra officials were hopeful of wooing the MNCs considering many natural advantages Vizag enjoys over Haldia.

"Vizag offers clean environment, and well-developed social infrastructure. Haldia port doesn't have a draft whereas Vizag has," an official said listing some of the pluses of the proposed mega chemical complex in Visakhapatnam.

State chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is also expected to make a visit to Delhi to meet the representatives of these foreign companies and also to seek the support of the Government of India in securing a share in FDI.

The state government is keen on developing the sector keeping in view the immense employment opportunities the investments in the sector offers.