Demographic dividend to drive AP's growth

Andhra Pradesh is on the path of rapid economic growth with a high percentage of people constituting the working population, and would contribute to nation building in the years ahead, said Governor ESL Narasimhan addressing the Republic Day parade here on Wednesday.

The state government has been pursuing policies for expanding industrial and IT sector while implementing a host of welfare programmes to take care of the basic needs, health and education of the poor and economically disadvantaged sections of society, he said.

“The government foresees a fillip to industrialisation by tapping the natural gas resources as well as the future potential,” Narasimhan said while stating that the state had the distinction of having the maximum number of special economic zones. Plans are also under way for creating a petrochemical corridor between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada to attract sizable investments.

On the IT sector, he said the government’s vision was to maintain the high growth momentum and achieve the target of Rs70,000 crore in software exports by 2015.

The governor also said his government was committed to complete as many as 43 new irrigation projects in the next two years and provide irrigation facilities to an ayacut of 3.8 million acres.