Hyderabad: Telangana State has been ranked third in the country in receiving industrial investment proposals in March 2017 (worth Rs 7,268 crore from 43 industrial undertakings), according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The data for March covers industrial entrepre-neurs memorandum (IEM) filed and letters of intent (LoI)/ direct industrial licenses (DILs) issued by the government.
While Gujarat topped the list at Rs 31,367 crore from 98 units, neighbouring AP stood sixth with Rs 2,223 crore from 33 units.
The Centre's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) noted that both Telugu states have been performing better in attracting investments. AP was bifurcated in June 2014, and the department compiled the data from January 2015 to March 2017. AP dominated Telangana in overall investments in a calendar year in 2015 and 2016.
The data revealed that in calendar year 2015, TS got Rs 10,209 crore investments from 145 units while AP got Rs 21,300 crore from 135 units.
In 2016, TS attracted Rs 22,146 crore investments from 139 units, while AP got Rs 34,464 crore investments from 164 units.
However, in March 2017, TS surpassed AP. TS industry officials opined that AP held global investors’ meet in Vizag twice in which several MoUs were inked due to which it could attract higher investments than TS in a calendar year while TS is yet to hold such a meeting.
K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for Industries, said: “The investments in Telangana have increased after the launch of TS-iPASS in June 2015, the online approval policy without any grills, wherein approvals are accorded within 15 days from the date of submission of application in a graft-free manner. Investment proposals more than doubled from Rs 10,209 crore in 2015 to Rs 22,146 crore in 2016. In March this year, we received thrice as many investments as of AP. We hope more investments flow in remaining months of 2017 as there are no power or infrastructure issues in Telangana now.”
Mr Rao said the state government is planning to hold the first global investors’ meet in Hyderabad in November or December this year.
“We aim for Rs 10 lakh crore investments at the global investors’ meet," Mr. Rao added.
