Andhra Pradesh to enact Investors Protection Act to attract domestic, foreign investments: Nara Lokesh

Addressing the inaugural session in Visakhapatnam, the state's Information Technology Minister said the government is actively considering the proposed legislation and has requested

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to facilitate policy clearance and implementation at the national level.

"Second is our investor protection act. Lot of the investors have asked this to me. We are the state that's now actively considering it. We will enact it," Lokesh said, adding, "We will of course send it to Piyush Goyal ji and with his blessings, it should be adopted even at Government of India level and this will enable us to attract both domestic and foreign investment."

He also highlighted the state government's commitment to ensuring the timely delivery of incentives to industries through an escrow account, without government interference.

"...we made a promise to the nation and the world that we will create an escrow account to ensure that the incentives are delivered to the industry without any interference of government...I'm really excited and proud to say that we are the first state in India to actually deliver on that promise, so investors have nothing to worry."

The Minister also highlighted that the state has attracted investments of nearly Rs 22.6 lakh crore, adding, "Close to 73% of these projects have now been sanctioned, approved with a government order."

He further added, out of the 22 lakh crore investments "51% of the projects have been grounded and they'll create close to 12.7 lakh jobs."

Turning to infrastructure development, Lokesh said Andhra Pradesh plans to double its port cargo-handling capacity over the next three years, supported by the development of four new greenfield ports.

" We have a 1000 kilometers of coastline. Visakhapatnam is our major port that supports our state and we already handle 100 million tons of cargo a year, and we have 4 new green field ports coming about in Ramaiyapatnam, Mulapeta, Machilipatnam and Kakinada and we intend to double our capacity in the next 3 years," he said.

Highlighting the state's manufacturing strength, the minister said Andhra Pradesh accounts for 60 per cent of India's air-conditioner manufacturing.

Referring to the state's growing horticultural output, Lokesh said, "...we no longer are the rice ball of India but we're actually the fruit ball of India..." (ANI)