Hyderabad: Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday said that the state government has been successful in attracting new investments by foreign companies and an announcement would be made in the next couple of weeks.
“Using the Covid-10 crisis as an opportunity, we have started focusing on attracting enterprises which are moving away from China and other large manufacturing countries. As part of that endeavour, my principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan has been diligently following up with several entities to spread the word that Telangana state is looking for investments in high employment generating sectors,” the minister said, during an interactive session with Ficci members.
“I am also happy to share with you that we have had a reasonable success and we have a few announcements lined up in the next couple of weeks on investments deals that are being inked,” he said.
While India did its best in slowing down the spread of Coronavirus, the minister said the country has also flattened out the wrong curve of GDP. “We understand the risks of Covid-19 pandemic, but the country cannot shut down its economy. We need to balance them out,” Rama Rao explained.
Pointing out inadequate healthcare facilities across the world, the minister said the country should train many more youngsters to get into this sector to avail of the opportunities just like they did when the IT revolution swept India two decades ago.
Responding to the request of some industrialists that the government should set off pending incentives towards electricity or other dues payable to state bodies, the minister said he would take up the issue with the Cabinet. However, he pointed to the depleting revenues of the state in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rama Rao agreed to consider the request of private healthcare facilities to conduct Covid-19 testing in the state. He said that the government has been circumspect in allowing private testing as it was worried about attempts by some entities to cash in on the public panic.
