AP clears Rs 40,000-cr investments

Reliance ADAG arm among 13 cement firms to bring in Rs 20,980 crore

The state investment promotion board (SIPB), headed by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Wednesday cleared 25 investment proposals with a combined investment of Rs 40,379 crore, of which Rs 37,653 crore comes from cement and fertiliser sectors alone.

The cement sector continues to enjoy the government patronage so far this year. It may be recalled that the state government had cleared 15 cement projects with proposed investments of Rs 15,392 crore last year.

Reliance Cement Company Private Limited of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is among the 13 cement projects that will be bringing in Rs 20,980 crore. Some of these cement companies have also proposed to set up captive power units.

 

Incentives, including a 25 per cent value-added tax (VAT) reimbursement, have been granted to these projects as per the state industrial policy, according to the officials. Of these 25 projects, about 20 investment proposals were part of the MoUs signed during the Partnership Summit held in January this year.

These projects are spread across eight sectors covering 12 districts of Kadapa, Guntur, Krishna, Nellore, Visakhapatnam, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Kurnool, Rangareddy, Adilabad, West Godavari and Vizianagaram, the chief minister's office said in a press release.

A Rs 7,578 -crore urea fertiliser plant by Hyderabad-based VBC Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited and a Rs 5,000-crore urea plant by Hyderabad-based Nuziveedu Seeds Limited are among the big-ticket investment proposals cleared by the government on Wednesday. In the cement sector, Midwest Granite company and Sirgy's Cements have proposed an investment of Rs 5,400 crore and Rs 3,780 crore respectively.

VBC is planning to set up a 1.45-million tonne ammonia plant and a 2.52-million tonne urea plant in Krishna district.

Other companies that have proposed investments of over Rs 1,000 crore in the cement sector include three separate units by My Home Industries Limited (Rs 3,600 crore), Reliance Cement Company (Rs 2,500 crore), Chettinad Cement Corporation (Rs 1,500 crore) and West Coast Paper Mills Limited (Rs 1,000 crore).

Among the other significant proposals, the government has cleared the project of FMCG major Proctor & Gamble, which has proposed an investment of Rs 970 crore in an upcoming manufacturing hub near Hyderabad.

The list also includes Kribhco’s Rs 1,800-crore two-phase investment. The company proposes to set up a 6.6-million tonne DAP and complex fertiliser project in each of the two phases in Nellore district, A four-million tonne per annum (mpta) coke plant proposed by Gujarat NRE Coke Limited with an investment of Rs 1,200 crore has also been cleared.

The government cleared one project each in food (Rs 299 crore), glass (Rs 600 crore by Sentini Infra Limited), plastic (Rs 450 crore), steel (Rs 280 crore) and textile (Rs 132 crore) sectors.

Sentini Infra Limited has proposed a Rs 600-crore glass manufacturing plant while Toyotsu Rare Earths India Private Limited has proposed a Rs 500-crore rare earths project in Visakhapatnam.

New cement projects cleared on Wednesday include Renuka Cement Limited (Rs 800 crore), Mahathi Cements Private Limited (Rs 700 crore), Seetharam Cements Limited (Rs 700 crore), Jagath Enterprises Private Limited (Rs 550 crore) and Manaksia Limited (Rs 450 crore).