Stung by criticism over lack of industrialisation in the state, Andhra Pradesh government is going all out to host the Global Investors Summit at Visakhapatnam on 3 and 4 March in the presence several big shot business tycoons including Mukesh Ambani, Karan Adani, Kumar Mangalam Birla and Sajjan and Naveen Jindal in order to bring in investment to the state.

Several Union ministers including, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, RK Singh and G Kishan Reddy will also be present at the summit.

The YSRCP government under YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has claimed that it has fulfilled 98 per cent of the poll promises it had made before assuming office in 2019. However, despite being number one in the ease of doing business for successive years, investment and industrialisation have been the Achilles heel of this government, a fact that has been time and again thrown at its face by the Opposition TDP and its leader N Chandrababu Naidu who had been named as CEO of the state in his previous stint as chief minister of the unified Andhra Pradesh.

The loss of Hyderabad after the bifurcation posed a huge problem for a state which was left with a revenue deficit and an economy, primarily rural and agriculture based, which even Naidu found it difficult to shed during his tenure.

However, with elections round the corner the YSRCP Government is ready to project the state as the perfect destination for investors with its vast coastline and major ports and the only state with three industrial corridors passing through it including Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and Hyderabad- Bengaluru industrial corridor boasting of best industrial infrastructure and locations including Kopparthy, Achutapuram, Orvakal and Krishnapatnam.

The state government has done considerable ground work before the summit with chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inviting diplomats and investors through a curtain raiser event at New Delhi in January.

He said, “Come to Andhra Pradesh, have a feel of our state,” while adding that the state was doing well as evident from the number one ranking it achieved in terms of Ease of Doing Business, particularly as industry representatives are now part of the process of ranking the states. Several preparatory meetings were also held in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru prior to the APGIS.

The government has also identified 13 key sectors including aerospace, defence, agri and food processing, automobiles including EVs, electronics, IT, healthcare and medical equipment, logistics, MSME, strat-ups, petroleum, pharma, renewable energy, textiles, tourism and hospitality.

Evidently, the government does not want the summit to be just another jamboree where MoUs are signed but aiming to make it an eyeball grabbing event particularly after being stung by criticism for skipping the World Economic Forum at Davos and the decision of home grown industrial house Amara Raja to invest in Telangana.

The TDP has criticised the state government for driving away investment from the state. The APGIS is clearly aimed to change the perception of not only the industry but the public about the investment atmosphere of the state.