Andhra may get third manufacturing zone

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma on Saturday promised to approve a third National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) for Andhra Pradesh.

The Centre has already approved the establishment of 12 NIMZs in the country - eight on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, two in AP and one each in Karnataka and Maharashtra. These projects were announced as a part of the national manufacturing policy, which aims to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the GDP to at least 25 per cent from the present 16 per cent, according to the minister.

The Centre would provide grants to develop infrastructure such as roads besides offering various incentives for the units that come up in these designated zones. The state governments would have to provide land for these industrial zones, he said. A number of countries, including Japan, Germany, UK,Russia and even China had evinced interest in encouraging investments in the proposed manufacturing zones.

Sharma said the ministry was considering one more investment and manufacturing zone for AP as chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had requested him for the same so that the three regions in the state have one such facility each.

Responding to a question, he said the master plan for seven industrial corridor township projects had already been approved while the master plan for one more had been finalised.

The financial support being given to 56 handloom clusters in AP would be extended to 46 more clusters in the state, he said referring to the various requests made by the state government during his visit to Hyderabad. He also promised to extend support for the International Pharma Trade Centre proposed to be set up in Hyderabad by the AP government. An Institute for foreign trade would be set up in Visakhaptnam, he said.

India to become design outsourcing hub
Sharma said India would be made the design outsourcing hub in the world in coming decades. After laying the foundation stone for the second of the four new National Institutes of Design (NID) proposed in the country, here, he said eventually these institutions would create good designers in manufacturing, automobile and various other sectors needed for the country and the world.

The Hyderabad centre is expected to start undergraduate and graduate courses in various disciplines from 2015-16.