Till the other day, nothing much was being heard about new investments and new industries in the state.
Even when the opposition Telugu Desam Party and national media were critical of the YSR Congress government’s decision to withdraw land allotments made to certain projects like Lulu Group in Visakhapatnam and withdrawal of certain projects like Adani Data Centre at Vizag and Reliance Industries plant at Tirupati, there used to be not much reaction from the state government.
In fact, state industries minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy was not seen and heard in the media. When Telangana was taking the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos by storm, Andhra Pradesh was nowhere in the scene.
But when the media reports of Kia Motors India’s proposed plan to shift to Tamil Nadu kicked up a controversy across the country, the YSRC government has become alert to the fact that a lot of damage has been done to the state.
Apparently, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is learnt to have expressed displeasure over the lack of initiative by Mekapati in attracting industries and his neglect of working out an industrial policy.
For the last few days, Mekapati has become very active in the social media and also in the mainstream media, sharing information about his activities.
He held a review meeting with his department officials regarding draft industrial policy 2020, which he said he would be investor-friendly and growth-oriented.
He attended automobile expo and Defence Expo conventions in New Delhi, where he tried to project the initiative taken by the state government in promoting automobile industry and defence equipment manufacturing.
He announced that Bharat Forge would establish an auto parts unit in Nellore at an investment of Rs 1,200 crore.
On Friday, Mekapati attended the ground breaking ceremony by Toray Industries, a Japanese company at SriCity to set up its manufacturing unit in 85 acres with an investment of Rs 1000 crore.
Similarly, he said State Auto Financial Corporation, an insurance holding company headquartered in Columbus of Ohio state, has evinced interest in opening an IT development Centre at Visakhapatnam that would provide jobs to 1000 software professionals.
It is good that at last Mekapati is taking some initiatives to revitalise the industrial climate in Andhra Pradesh.