Entrepreneurs all praise for 'industry-friendly' AP

Vijayawada: Several industrialists are all praise for the 'industry-friendly' atmosphere in Andhra Pradesh while expressing their views during Global Investors Summit preparatory meeting held in Delhi on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion Tae Jin Park, MD and CEO, KIA Motors said the AP government has taken crucial steps in developing and nurturing on automotive belt chain by supporting it with the resources to set up operations in the state. The government has helped us to build a world-class car facility. "The ease of connectivity, including proximity to major ports like Krishnapatnam and Chennai, to enable us to sell our cars not just across India but across 95 countries in the world. We are extremely grateful to the Government of AP during the Covid period for supporting us to manufacture cars safely," Tae Jin Park said.

Yamaguchi, MD and CEO, Toray Industries. (Japan), said, "We had huge support from AP since 2019 April. We have invested Rs 1,000 crore in AP and started two business units. With the support of the government, we started production in June 2020. Our business plan is to invest more than double our present investment by 2030. We are expecting the AP government's support for growing together".

Deepak Dharnarajan Iyer, president, Cadbury India (USA) said they were proud partners of AP. They have been very proactive and supportive ever since we started our business units in Sri City. "We have invested more than Rs 2,500 crore and created more than 6,000 direct jobs and several thousand indirect jobs engaging in transportation and distribution.

Fifty per cent of the operators who run our machines are women from the small villages across Andhra Pradesh and skilled by us. They are running the most advanced factory in the Asia Pacific. Around 80 per cent of the employees are locals. Apart from manufacturing, we are growing cocoa in AP in several districts. We bring 3,000-4,000 farmers into cocoa production. We have six operating units and one coming up soon," he said expressing their deepest gratitude to AP government for providing one of the best single-window clearance systems in the entire country. We do business across the country but AP is one of the best, he said.

Roshan Gunawardhana, Director, Everton Tea India Pvt Ltd (Italy) said the company has grown significantly in Andhra Pradesh. Though AP is not a tea producing state, they have put our faith in AP and it is being rightly justified over and over.

Ease of doing business is one factor that was good in AP and the support they got from the government helped them set up the units here.

He said 99 per cent of employees are local. He said they were looking forward to expanding in Andhra Pradesh and expecting support from the government.

Sergio Lee, director, Apache and Hilltop Group (Taiwan) said the company was established in 2006 to manufacture shoes with 100 per cent export. It signed an MoU and started production in 9 months. The success of the company was not possible without AP government's support. "It was signed by current Chief Minister's father. Now we are working together to Apache India 2 project. This project will be done with the 30 years experience of Apache. the latest technology with green energy concept will be used to set up the facility. we are looking forward to contribute in economic growth together in AP state," he said.

Phani Kunar, CMD, Saint-Gobain Industries India Pvt Ltd (France) said they had invested over Rs 12,000 crore in two decades in India. Over the last few years, the company invested in AP and started the factory during Covid. The extraordinary support from the authorities is the reason why it is the most prosperous unit they have inaugurated recently.

He said there is also a massive commitment from bureaucracy and political leadership to make them successful.

AP walks the talk in providing physical incentives at right time, Phani Kumar said.