Industry commits Rs 1.9 lakh cr in Andhra on 2nd day of summit

Industry today pledged investments totaling Rs 1.9 lakh crore with a potential to generate over 7 lakh jobs in Andhra Pradesh on the second day of the partnership summit here.
Big corporate houses, including the Future Group, global retail giant Walmart and state-owned HPCL and RINL signed MoUs worth about Rs 1.9 lakh crore, thus taking the total investment commitment in the state to Rs 3.85 lakh crore at the end of the second day of the CII Partnership Summit.
The Andhra Pradesh government said it has so far signed as many as 245 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and the total commitments are expected to cross Rs 4 lakh crore by tomorrow.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is hopeful that the investments would provide over seven lakh jobs directly.
"We expect about Rs 4 lakh crore worth of investments in the state by the end of tomorrow," said Parakala Prabhakar, Communications Advisor to the state government.
The companies that have signed off on investment agreements include the Reliance Group, Spencer's, Arvind, Geetanjali Exports and Natco Pharma.

PSU Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) today signed an agreement to expand capacity and other works with an outlay of Rs 38,500 crore.
The Australia-based Queensland Coal Corp has agreed to set up a coal-based power plant in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of over Rs 30,000 crore.

Petrogas Pvt Ltd, a JV between Isomeric Holdings Bhd from Malaysia and LEPL Ventures Pvt Ltd (LEPL) of Vijayawada, also inked a pact with Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd (KPCL) and the Andhra government for setting up a regassification and floating storage terminal at Krishnapatnam Port with an investment of over USD 500 million.
According to Prabhakar, in food processing sector alone, the state inked agreements totaling Rs 5,927 crore of investments with a potential to generate about 67,000 jobs.
Also, four leading retail chains -- Walmart, the Future Group, Spencer's and Arvind -- have inked MoUs to invest Rs 1,500 crore in Andhra Pradesh. These agreements have a potential to generate 25,000 new jobs in the retail space.

Public sector HPCL too signed an MoU to lay gas grid at east and west Godavari area with a project cost of Rs 1,000 crore.
Similarly, a group of five Chinese companies has forged an agreement committing Rs 8,000 crore for technology transfer and capacity building, with an employment generation potential of about 10,000.
As many as 66 MoUs were signed in the food processing sector while 18 were for the IT industries.