Telangana Industries and Information Technology Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Thursday said the State government would start focusing on investments and enterprises that are looking to move away from China and other large manufacturing countries.
Addressing a special session on ‘Rebuilding and Rebooting Telangana’s Economy Post COVID-19’ organised by FICCI, the Minister sought to highlight how such a derisking strategy of the enterprises and investors, in the wake of the pandemic, could open a window of opportunity for the State.
Webinar
Industries Secretary Jayesh Ranjan was already in touch with several entities such as European Business Group and Indian High Commissions in many countries to spread the word on the benefits of investing in the State. “Telangana is open to business and we are looking for investments in high employment generating sectors like textiles, electronics, life sciences and IT,” Mr.Rao told the webinar organised by the leading trade and industry body.
Towards attracting investments, creating employment and to make it conducive for businesses to thrive, the focus of the State government is not only on the ease of doing business but also on reducing the cost of doing business and improving the quality of doing business. The government was focusing on these steps and engaging with industry and all stakeholders at multiple levels, he added.
Pharma City
Stressing the need for India to think on scale, he said the world’s largest pharma cluster in the form of Hyderabad Pharma City would be coming up in Telangana in the next few months. This would reduce dependence on any other market across the world.
On micro, small and medium enterprises, the Minister said “we need to also ensure that our MSMEs receive the much-needed support. We have to make efforts to increase consumption, increase demand, invest more in infrastructure projects, attract more investments and create employment.”
With regard to the steps taken by the State government to reduce the impact of COVID-19, Mr Rao said “we have been following the WHO and ICMR guidelines diligently. COVID-19 has been a challenge for governments across the world. In a developing nation like India, we will have to ensure that lives and livelihoods are balanced.”
FICCI president Sangita Reddy said Telangana was among the few states which opened agriculture and industrial activity with requisite standard procedures.
On COVID-19, she said while the pandemic had significantly impacted the world, it also offered many opportunities.
“India is a stable and large market with liberalised economy. It has an attractive policy regime and implementation of these have been very proactive.”