Andhra has favourable atmosphere, provides better incentives for setting up industries, says Nara Lokesh

The Andhra IT Minister said that start-up wasn't only the slogan of the state, but also a weapon that can totally transform the system of governance.

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh, on Monday said that the state has the most favourable atmosphere and provides much better incentives for setting up industries.

Addressing the prestigious US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Leadership Summit organised in the national capital, Nara Lokesh said that start-up is not only the slogan of Andhra Pradesh but also a weapon that can totally transform the system of governance.

Appreciating the assistance extended by the start-ups during the recent cyclonic storm that hit the state, Lokesh expressed confidence that the target of providing 20 lakh jobs to the youth will certainly be achieved with the active cooperation of the private sector.

The summit chaired by the Forum Chairman and founder of the JC-2 Ventures, John Chambers, Lokesh mainly focussed on the accelerated development of Andhra Pradesh over social and economic sectors. He informed the summit that the Economic Development Board has been revived for speedy granting of permissions to industries and an advisory council has been set up with experts in the private sector.

"We are now implementing a Single Point of Contract system for granting permissions to the industries and the information with regard to the permissions and the projects to be taken up is being regularly updated through a website," Lokesh said. Observing that for the first time in the country the state has taken up the programme of skill census, the Minister for IT said that as part of the exercise household data are education data is being gathered at micro-level initially.

Lokesh expressed the hope that the skill census will certainly help achieve the goal of providing 20 lakh jobs to the youth in the coming five years. "Also, taking the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's Vikasitha Bharat, we are moving ahead setting a goal of Vikasitha Andhra Pradesh by 2047," Nara Lokesh said.

Informing the summit that Andhra Pradesh has the longest coastline, Lokesh said that the aim of the state government is bringing the poor out of poverty by creating wealth. The state is moving very fast with Speed of Doing Business to achieve the goal of industrial development, he said that the Telugus are playing a crucial role in the IT sector.

The IT MInister said that the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, had encouraged establishing more and more engineering colleges and added that Hyderabad city is marching fast in IT due to his efforts, particularly during the Y2K boom. "We have a very good manpower and the port city of Visakhapatnam will be developed as an IT, Chemical, Pharma and Medical device hub," he said.

Stating that a decision has been taken to develop Amaravati as the Green Field capital, Lokesh said that plans are also afoot to develop the capital as a world-class city. World-class institutes like SRM and VIT had already started their operation at Amaravati, Nara Lokesh said and stated that the TDP-led NDA has achieved a historic victory in the recent elections by winning 164 seats out of 175 with 92 per cent strike rate.

"Of them, 88 MLAs including 17 Ministers are fresh faces. We have the bounden responsibility to meet the hopes and aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh," Nara Lokesh told the summit.