Industrial growth in AP to touch nat average soon

Hyderabad, Dec 7 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh government would achieve the national average growth rate of 9.83 per cent in manufacturing sector in the next two years, Major Industries Minister J Geeta Reddy said today.

Addressing the press here, Ms Reddy said the Congress government had achieved 7.65 per cent growth rate in manufacturing sector from 6 per cent in three years by inviting huge investments.

Stating that the state ranked second in the country in attracting investments, the minister said the total investments in industrial sector was Rs 10,500 crore during the three years from 2004-07, achieving 134 per cent growth in investments.

The government has received applications from investors to infuse Rs 72,000 crore which were under process for clearance, she said adding 600 sq km of land between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam had been identified for setting up Petroleum Chemical Petro-chemical Investment Region (PCPIR). The state was first in the race to get the Centre's nod, facing stiff competition from Gujarat and West Bengal.

About 1.5 lakh jobs were created in the manufacturing sector in the last three years apart from the IT sector, Ms Reddy said adding the total jobs provided in the SEZs were 10,000, out of 1.30 lakh jobs targeted by the end of 2009.

UNI