GMR chief made APSSDC chairman

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Government on Thursday appointed noted industrialist and GMR Group chairman Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao as chairman of the State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) and Ghanta Subba Rao as its first Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

The APSSDC, constituted on September 10, will function on the lines of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to take the state on a "speedy path of development".

Retired IAS officer K Lakshminarayana has been named as APSSDC Director. "Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development of any country. After bifurcation, the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh had to forfeit revenues, assets, several institutions and locational advantages.

"Hence, the state government intends to take the state on a speedy path of development by taking up port-based development, improving air, rail and road connectivity to position the state as a logistics hub and leveraging the strong agriculture base to develop Information Technology clusters," Principal Secretary to government (Higher Education) Nilam Sawhney said in an order.

APSSDC, set up under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, would also give a fillip to gas-based industries and petro-chemical sector and tap the tourism potential of the state, she added.

APSSDC would be incorporated as a "not for profit" company under the Companies Act, 2013. AP government would hold 49 per cent share in the company, while the NSDC and the Industry would hold 51 per cent, Sawhney said in the order. "As the state economy is set to transform, mature and diversify, significantly-different and specialist skill sets become inevitable. The urgency is felt more acutely as there is also need to harness the demographic dividend in the state.

"The skill gap will need to be addressed through comprehensive efforts at various levels in order to cater to different needs of the society and the industry," the principal secretary added.