The State received yet another feather in its cap with a study commissioned by the Australian government ranking Telangana among the top 10 States as destinations the Australian businesses can look out for establishing their presence.
The study “An India Economic Strategy to 2035. Navigating from potential to delivery” conducted under the supervision of Queensland University Chancellor Peter N. Varghese says the Central government was important for doing business in India. However, States practically control many of the things which make the day-to-day life of foreign business in India easy or difficult in terms of access to land, regulation of labour, provision of infrastructure, the application and interpretation of regulation and so on.
“For all these reasons, the strategy recommends that a focus on sectors be matched with a focus on states. Over time, Austrade should realign its priorities and presence in line with the states, cities and sectors identified in this report,” the more than 500-page report said adding 10 States, including Telangana, had been selected. Other States may also present opportunities, but the weight of the efforts should be in these 10 States.
The study asserts that Telangana is the largest generator of solar energy in the country with plans for further expansion, outperforming most other States in terms of power supply. With strong economic fundamentals, the State had robust budgeted expenditure on health constituting about 4.8% while the State has large number of private healthcare organisations and the country’s largest pharmaceutical cluster.
The State Capital, Hyderabad, has figured among the list of cities that should be the entry points for Australian companies seeking to establish their presence in the market, the study said claiming that the clustering of the IT firms in Hyderabad and start-up culture in Bengaluru led to emergence of strong fintech ecosystem in both cities. “Telangana is also home to T-Hub, India’s largest start-up incubator,” the study said adding Hyderabad is becoming a global destination for tech business and entrepreneurs with the government providing a state focus on innovation through a formal innovation policy.
Telangana is among the five States — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu being the others — which account for 70% of the country’s exports and the State tied with Andhra Pradesh had strong economic momentum driven by a focus on the ease of doing business, infrastructure development and abundant natural resources. Telangana, the study said, was the newest and one of the fastest growing economies experiencing 9.5% per annum growth over three years till 2017. It holds potential for Australia across its biotech, health, energy, fintech, innovation and start-up ecosystem.