AP captures major pie of irrigation sector investment

This was gleaned from the data studied from 2003 to 2013

Though the alleged discrimination in river water utilisation was a major bone of contention leading to a stage of  imminent division, Andhra Pradesh still claimed a lion's share in the country's irrigation sector investments in the last decade.

According to a study titled ‘Sectoral Investments and Growth-Unraveling the Investment Story of States’ by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the state attracted maximum investments in the irrigation sector worth over Rs 147,000 crore as of March 2013.  

The state accounted for 39 per cent of the total investment of Rs 370,000-crore that was registered in the country's irrigation sector between 2003-2013, the study said. The report compiled the data of 20 Indian states.

Incidentally, this period also saw the resurgence of the separate statehood demand in the Telangana region. Political observers partly attribute the high investments in AP’s irrigation as a consequence of this demand.

Karnataka came a distant second in terms of funding the irrigation sector. It accounted for 15 per cent of the country's total irrigation sector investments. It was followed by Gujarat (9.5 per cent), Maharashtra (8.1 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (6.5 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (3.8 per cent), Odisha and Bihar (3.5 per cent each) and Rajasthan (2.8 per cent).

Of the total investments worth over Rs 12 lakh crore attracted by Andhra Pradesh --period?, the power sector accounted for the maximum share of 25.6 per cent closely followed by manufacturing (24.7 per cent), services (20.7 per cent), irrigation (12.2 per cent), real estate (11.9 per cent) and mining (4.7 per cent), said  DS Rawat,  secretary general of Assocham.

“Andhra Pradesh accounts for 10 per cent share in total investments attracted from various public and private sources across India. So far as sector-wise share of investments is concerned, Andhra Pradesh has about 39 per cent share in investments attracted by irrigation sector throughout India, 10 per cent share in manufacturing, 16 per cent share in mining, seven per cent in power, nine per cent in services and 10 per cent in real estate investments," Rawat said.

About 61 per cent of the total investment projects in Andhra Pradesh as of March 2013 were under implementation and of the remaining, about 30 per cent were in the announcement stages alone, according to the report.

On the ownership front, the private sector accounted for about 60 per cent of investment inflows in the state and the public sources accounted for over 37 per cent.