VISAKHAPATNAM: Vice-President of India, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu said India will emerge as one of the most vibrant economies of the world and Andhra Pradesh is poised to play a key role in the country’s growth story in the coming years. In the inaugural speech at the annual three-day partnership summit of the CII here in Vizag city on Saturday, Mr Venkaiah Naidu said that demonetisation drive and GST were two revolutionary steps taken by the BJP government as these would benefit the country’s growth in the long run.
The number of people, who had filed Income Tax returns had increased from 6.47 crore in 2014-15 to 8.27 crore at the end of 2016-17. He also pointed out that thanks to the reforms initiated, the Current Account Deficit had declined from 1.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent while the fiscal deficit had dropped from 5.9 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
Praising the leadership of both the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, Mr Venkaiah Naidu said that the Centre and the state would work together to build a new Andhra Pradesh. Expressing his pleasure that AP had made tremendous growth in various sectors in spite of the challenges faced after the division of the state, Union Industry and Commerce minister Mr Suresh Prabhu said that AP will be emerging as the hub in the automobile sector with impressive growth and Indians will ride in cars manufactured in Andhra Pradesh in the coming years. “The cars will not only be made in AP, but they will be designed here as well,” he said.
Chief Minister Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu said that the Andhra Pradesh government is working towards ensuring that the state emerges as one amongst the top 3 investment destinations in the country by the year 2022, the top investment destination with the highest per capita income by the year 2029, and a premier global investment destination by the year 2050. Underlining Andhra Pradesh’s sustained double-digit GSDP growth achieved in the last three years, Mr Naidu said that all key sectors-agriculture, industrial and services-had received the concentrated attention of the government. He said that the state had achieved over 25 per cent growth in agriculture even in the face of deficit rainfall, which pointed to the efficient water management systems that had been instituted across Andhra Pradesh. In the next 5 years, Andhra Pradesh will see Rs 10 lakh crore fresh investments and 20 lakh new jobs created, the Chief Minister added.
Among the big investments, Mytrah inked a MoU on electric vehicle project worth Rs 7,000 crore while JBM group to invest Rs 2,650 for electrical mobility, solar power generation, auto components and Sun Mobility signed an MoU worth Rs 1,670 crore for electric charging. Several delegates who evinced interest to see the Kia Motors cars exhibited at the summit venue opined that AP would emerge as major automobile hub. They said that the automobile sector has been contributing 7 per cent for GDP growth. Majority of them appealed for production of pollution-free solar and electrical vehicles. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) signed four MoUs with the AP government announcing an investment of Rs 3,730 crore.
