Industry-friendly policies to continue post division: J Geeta Reddy

Andhra Pradesh major industries minister J Geeta Reddy today assured the industry of continuity in terms of honouring the existing commitments and policy incentives to units located on both sides of the state after the division.

The minister held an interactive meeting with the representatives of all the industry bodies led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the behest of the latter as entrepreneurs had sought clarity on various issues, including security for their businesses and existing commitments on power and incentives, in the light of bifurcation.

The Congress would be at the helm of affairs in both the states - Telangana and Andhra - besides at the Centre to ensure the continuity, the minister said.

Geeta Reddy, who is also in charge of the home department, said new states continued to be created even after 1956 - the year when AP was formed. There were set procedures and precedents to be followed in resolving all the issues arising out of bifurcation, including the division of assets and allocation of waters.

"The future of employment for all our youth is in the industry and manufacturing sector. The services sector has probably reached its potential and future economic growth will be fuelled by manufacturing. Therefore, I would like to impress upon the investors that there will not be any deviation from the industry-friendly policies of the government," the minister said.

She also said the new governments might come up with more incentives to encourage the manufacturing sector specifically with regard to the districts that have little employment opportunities.

CII president Ashok Reddy said the interaction with the minister helped in clearing doubts and apprehensions of industrialists. "We will have more such meetings in the future," he said while stating they would work with both the future governments especially in realising their objective of creating 35 million new jobs by 2020.

The minister has promised to set up a container depot for export of bulk drugs and other cargo in Hyderabad as it will be left with no such facilities after coastal Andhra separates from Telangana, according to him.

Though the industry representatives observed that everything, including the division of the state, was at a preliminary stage and the status of Hyderabad continued to create uncertainty in the minds of investors, the minister said the division was 4-5 months away.

"You can be assured that there will be no forced re-location either of your facilities or your employees. Growth in and around Hyderabad should not stop and we will work with industry leaders and investors to ensure a higher trajectory of economic development," she said.

On the power deficit scenario in the future Telangana state, the minister said the Government of India would prepare the terms of reference according to which subject experts from the Centre and the state would carry out the division of assets in optimal manner.