Over 8,000 delegates from several industries and organisations, including top business and industry stakeholders from across the country, are expected to take part in the Global Investors Summit (GIS) to be held by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government in the port city of Visakhapatnam on March 3 and 4.
The GIS, which is the first mega investment drive being held by the state government since Reddy came to power four years ago, is aimed at attracting investments to Andhra Pradesh, which has been at the top of the list of the states in Ease of Doing Business for several years.
“We are targeting at least ₹2 lakh crore investments during the two-day summit. We have identified as many as 13 priority sectors, including agriculture, agro-based industries, maritime sector, manufacturing, food processing, ports, information technology and electronics, handlooms, and textiles for potential investments,” state industries minister Gudivada Amarnath told reporters on Wednesday.
The state is expecting more than ₹70,000 crore investments only in the renewable energy sector, which is going to be the prime focus of the summit, the minister said.
According to Amarnath, those who have confirmed their participation include Mukesh Ambani, K M Birla, Karan Adani, Sanjiv Bajaj, Sajjan Jindal, Naveen Jindal, G M Rao, Krishna M Ella, Puneet Dalmia, Arjun Oberoi, Sumant Sinha, Sajjan Bhajanka, Harimohan Bangur, N Srinivasan and B V R Mohan Reddy.
During the event,13 parallel sessions on sectors, including information technology, industrial and logistics infrastructure, renewable energy, automotive sector, start-ups, healthcare sector, electronics, aerospace and defence, petrochemicals, education, tourism and hospitality, will be held.
“There will be two exclusive sessions on textiles and apparels and pharmaceuticals and life sciences. Besides, there will be country sessions on Vietnam, Netherlands, the UAE and Western Australia,” Amarnath said.
The inaugural session will be attended by Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal, Union minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy.
Amarnath said the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd., the nodal agency for industries in the state, had a land bank of nearly 48,000-acres to allocate to the industries which evince interest in investing in the state.
“We shall sign memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with various industrial giants on the second day of the summit, after arranging business-to-business meetings between investors and industry players,” he said.
During the summit, the chief minister will make a detailed presentation showcasing the investment potential of the state, besides the favourable climatic conditions, ample water resources and its long coastline of 974 km. “The state has a huge potential to make investments in fields like aquaculture, electronics, healthcare and food processing industries, besides renewable energy,” Amarnath said.
Vizag decked up for the GIS
Meanwhile, arrangements are in full swing for hosting the GIS at Andhra University Engineering College grounds in Visakhapatnam. The entire port city has been decked up to host the mega event.
“Special arrangements are being made to showcase the culture and heritage of Andhra Pradesh by erecting special stalls. Cultural events are being held on both the days soon after the completion of the session,” a senior official of the state information and public relations department supervising the arrangements said.
Hospitality arrangements have been made for the delegates attending the event. At least 26 chartered flights have been hired to ferry the VIPs to Visakhapatnam while nearly 350 luxury cars have been procured for their transport.
At least 560 suites have been booked in 17 hotels for the industrialists, the official added.
