The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to put a model in place for ensuring continuous inflow of investment and technology in various sectors.
Disclosing this at a working session with the CEOs of the state industry in Hyderabad, in a run-up to the Partnership Summit from January 5, the chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, said that such kind of model was existing in Ireland.
Making a presentation on 'LEAP 21' (Leadership and Excellence for Andhra Pradesh in 21st Century), the chief minister said that the state government had taken several initiatives in the last seven years to provide hassle-free environment and investor-friendly administration.
Seeking feedback from industrialists on various initiatives of the government, which will help in further improving the investment climate, the chief minister said that his expectations from the industry was local partnership for incoming investment, prompt repayment of loans to banks and financial institutions, business ethics, quality and continuous business-government interaction.
"You may be wondering why the chief minister is interested in prompt repayment of loans. I am insisting on it because when ever we insist on sanction of loans to various projects, institutions are pointing out the defaults. These defaults are coming in the way of sanctioning loans to the new projects," he said, pointing out that the repayment rate with self-help groups was above 95 per cent in the state.
As part of interaction with the representatives of various industrial segments, the chief minister on the issue of attracting a major automobile manufacturing unit for state said: "We have been trying for it for the last several years. You, the auto ancillary units, form an association and chalk out an incentive proposal to attract the auto manufacturing unit. I will consider it. I am even willing to come along with you to wherever you want for the purpose."
The chief minister said that he was in favour of having an institutional mechanism to change the mindset of bureaucracy, which will make a long way in attracting the investment.
Earlier in his introductory remarks, the state industries minister, K Vidyadher Rao, said that the government had passed the Single Window Act to enable the clearances fast.
"I request every one to approach through single window. Any licence that has been sanctioned without going through Single Window may not be valid," the minister said.
As part of the session, the state government made presentations on IT hardware, pharma, tourism and natural gas sectors to create awareness on the investment opportunities in these sectors.
Raising the concerns of the IT hardware sector, Ramesh Datla, the managing director of Elico Limited, said that there was a need to convert the hardware park that was coming up near the proposed Hyderabad international airport into a special economic zone in view of the zero duty regime that would come in 2005 as part of the WTO pact.