The Congress government laid the ground for a steady pipeline of industry ready candidates with the Young India Skills University, which in the coming years is set to train thousands of youth for various industries.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS
For the A. Revanth Reddy-led Congress government that rode to power primarily on a plank of social welfare, Industries emerged as an unlikely sector to hog limelight in its first year of the rule for the new investments it garnered, policy measures initiated as well as the opposition surrounding land acquisition for a pharma project and the consequent roll back of the decision.
It was rather a smooth take off on the Industries front as within weeks of assuming office the Chief Minister led a delegation comprising Minister for Industries and IT D.Sridhar Babu and senior officials to the World Economic Forum in Davos, in the process becoming the first CM from Telangana to do so, and returned with commitments of more than ₹40,200 crore investments across sectors.
About six months later, he led a delegation to the U.S. and South Korea meeting with prospective investors and securing investment commitments of more than ₹31,500 crore. Besides generating interest, these visits helped send out a message that the change of guard has had little impact on the aspirations of the State to build on its image as a preferred investment destination. Both the CM and Minister also asserted that the government will not hesitate to continue with the good policy measures of the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime.
Simultaneously, the government started working on new policy measures, especially for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and women entrepreneurs as there was a view that the hugely popular TS-iPASS (now TG-iPASS) system of time-bound clearances and self certification was oriented towards large industries and mega projects.
As part this approach, it unveiled a one of its kind MSME Policy, which included plans to promote and scale up women enterprises as well as set up several industrial estates exclusively for women. The government also promised to clear the pending incentives, to industries, for several years in a phased manner.
Apart from a focus on attracting new investments, promoting MSMEs and consolidating on Telangana’s image as home to a vibrant startup ecosystem and well poised to further spur innovation and research in key areas such as Life Sciences, the Congress government laid the ground for a steady pipeline of industry ready candidates with the Young India Skills University. Taking the public private partnership route, it has established the university that in the coming years is set to train thousands of youth for various industries. In doing so, the government has sought to address concerns of investors related to availability of skilled workforce and the aspiration of unemployed, educated youth.
But the first year of the government was not without its share of controversies on the Industries front. Soon after assuming office, the government said it has decided to scrap the ambitious Hyderabad Pharma City project, which was conceived during the BRS government on nearly 20,000 acres. Announcing the decision, the Revanth Reddy government said it will instead establish a clutch of pharma villages across the State since such projects would help handle the pollution load better.
Not much was heard of the proposed plan until a protest and attack last month on officials, including the District Collector concerned, in Lagcherla when the team went there in connection with a pharma village project for which land was to be acquired. Consequently, the government said the pharma project has been dropped and a multi-purpose industries corridor will be set up there.
Other issues the government had to counter were related to allegations favouritism shown in an ethanol project, losing out on some projects and questions over ₹100 crore donation for the university from an Adani Foundation — which the government eventually turned down.
The road ahead is expected to be anything but smooth for the government as expectations of clearing the incentives early, new job creation and fresh investments rise. The government plans to go full hog in terms of sharpening the focus on industrial growth, including by unveiling a new Industry Policy.
Sharing details of the achievements of Industries Department, Mr. Sridhar Babu said Telangana is providing all clearances to start an industry though an end-to-end online system developed under TGiPASS. In last one year, 1901 units with proposed investment of ₹12,626 crore and proposed employment of 49,384 have obtained approvals. A total of 409 units have already commenced operations and balance are at various stages of implementation. In addition, 882 units with an investment of ₹9,646 crore and employment 40,468 have filed applications for clearances under TG-iPASS and are under process. Some of the major industries that obtained clearances under TG-iPASS in the last one year are — Kaynes Semicon (₹2,700 crore investment); Maharashtra Seamless (₹258.21 crore); Bactolac Nutraceuticals (₹194 crore); GM Nexus India (₹192 crore) and RMJ Veritiable Products (₹127.27 crore).
Since December 2023, incentives for an amount of ₹272.24 crore were sanctioned to 2,489 claims of the units promoted by General Category Entrepreneurs; ₹159.63 crore sanctioned to 2623 units promoted by SC entrepreneurs; ₹350.87 crore were sanctioned to 5,430 units promoted by ST entrepreneurs; and ₹14 crore were sanctioned to 209 units promoted by PHC Entrepreneurs.
Published – December 05, 2024 09:46 pm IST
