Even as Andhra Pradesh made headlines over its announcement detailing the securing Rs 13 lakh crore in proposed investments, the state’s industry ministers told CNBC-TV18 that 80 percent of these proposals will, in fact, translate into realisable investments.

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“We have a track record that says in the last three and a half years – after Chief Minister Jagan came to power – MOUs in the CM’s office saw a realisation rate of 89 percent,” said Gudivada Amarnath, industries minister, Andhra Pradesh, “That shows our track record and credibility.”

He added, “I don’t claim these investment proposals (made at the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Meet) will be 89 percent, but we are targeting a minimum of 80 percent, which will probably be about Rs 9.5 to 10 lakh crore, which is also a huge number.”

Also Read: Andhra Investor Summit 2023: Rs 13 lakh crore invested, employment to 6 lakh people on Day 1

The minister’s clarification comes in the light of common criticism levelled against investor summits, with experts pointing out that MOUs and investment proposals seldom translate to actual investments on the ground.

Recently, Andhra Pradesh FM, Buggana Rajendranath told CNBC-TV18 that the Andhra Pradesh Government was only targeting realisable investments at the investor summit. Amarnath added that this approach was critical in order to ensure that such summits were more than a PR exercise.

“We don’t want to cheat the people and show numbers that are not realisable,” said Amarnath, “That is why we have taken proposals beforehand, scrutinised them, taken into consideration what the government can do to help and what support we can provide industrialists.”

Over the weekend, a bevy of industry leaders made a beeline to the port city of Vishakapatnam where the top brass of the Andhra Pradesh Government gathered, to make investment proposals amounting to many thousand crore rupees in the case of sectors like renewable energy. Companies in the sector, like ReNew, Indosol and Greenko, pledged investments amounting to Rs 97,500 crore, 76,033 crore and 47,500 crore, respectively.

Also Read: 4-lane highways to connect all Andhra ports at Rs 20,000 crore, says Gadkari

Reliance Industries Ltd and the Adani Group also announced plans of expanding their presence in Andhra Pradesh. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani announced the setting up of a 10 GW solar power plant, and a Rs 40,000 investment through Reliance Jio.

Adani Ports and SEZ CEO Karan Adani announced the capacity expansion of the company’s Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram ports to the tune of 100 million metric tonne, and the setting up of a 400 MW data centre in Vishakapatnam.

Names like Aurobindo Group, JSPL, Shree Cement and GMR Group also coughed up significant investments ranging between Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore.

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Mar 4, 2023 1:02 PM IST