Fapcci for 100 new small industries in AP

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) on Tuesday emphasised the need to promote industries in the investment range of Rs 20 crore to Rs 100 crore, which provide greater employment opportunities compared with the very-large industries.

“Such industries also serve as ancillaries for mega projects and for development of their own ancillaries in the SME sector. There is a need to promote 100 such units in Andhra Pradesh in the next two years. However, they are too small to attract the capital markets and so need a dedicated development financing institution for long-term finance. The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation will fulfil this need and hence Fapcci requested the government for its revival,” Shekhar Agarwal, president of Fapcci, told mediapersons.

Fapcci today released reports on ‘Gems and jewellery sector in AP’, ‘Pattern of industrial growth and investment’, ‘AP to become number one industrially-developed state’' and ‘Maize and maize-based industries, opportunities in AP’.

Further, Agarwal said, industrial growth required world-class plug-and-play infrastructure and 40,000 new industrial plots had to be developed across the state. Six chemical zones should also be developed with common effluent plants, he added.

Lauding the new industrial policy for 2010-15, which aims at attracting Rs 150,000 crore investments and creating 500,000 direct and indirect jobs, Agarwal said this called for close monitoring for reaping the benefits.

“For such monitoring, there has to be shift from outlays to outcomes to assess progress. It would be necessary to upgrade the head of the industries department to the rank of a special chief secretary with a secretary rank officer with requisite jurisdiction and powers for the monitoring as required,” he said.

On the agriculture front, Agarwal said in view of the importance of maize, which offers more than 150 products and derivatives with ethanol being one that helps reduce consumption of imported crude oil and save precious foreign exchange, the industry body had suggested to the state government to form a dedicated department for development of maize and maize-based industries.