Andhra Pradesh IT and human resources development minister N. Lokesh said he wants to attract trillion dollars investment into the state. In the last 17 months, we’ve been able to reach close to $120 billion worth of firm commitments, he proudly claimed and said he would he would sleep well the day when the state clinches a trillion dollars’ worth of investments in the state.
In an interview with an English news publication, he revealed that priority to speed over ease of doing business has helped them ground many projects. Ease of doing business always focuses on simplifying the regulations for the convenience of the investors. By shifting the priority towards speed, we gave more attention to how fast a project can be taken through its entire life cycle by handholding it. Delaying the projects would increase the interest cost. Take the example of Google. The IT giant is ready to invest $15-billion and had we delayed it for six months, the interest cost would shoot up. As investment costs increase, the focus should be on running faster, he said.
Lokesh also pinned hopes on the upcoming Partnership Summit slated for November 14-15 in Vizag. Over 410 MoUs will get signed in the Summit, involving investments north of $100 billion, and an employment potential of over 7,00,000 jobs. On the war of words between him and a few ministers from neighbouring Karnataka, he said it was their words pissed him off. Their remarks were unwarranted when our approach was very dignified. The difference is completely political but will not hit below the belt, he said.
Lokesh said that their focus on fostering relationships and ensuring tangible results was yielding desired outcome. Incentives are given by every state but the ability to work in tandem with the investor pays off more. The ArcelorMittal investment did not happen merely on incentives. We understood their needs and got the things moving, he said.
It is not just investments. Employment generation is another focus area. In our election manifesto, we promised to create 2 million jobs. In addition, to bringing the investments into the state, we are matching the supply and demand of required skill sets and plugging the gaps. Under the guidance of our experienced leader and CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, we are sure of achieving our goals, he added.