Telangana outperformed national growth rate: KTR

Hyderabad: Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Telangana's growth rate has outperformed the national growth rate and its share in the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased from 4.74 per cent in 2019-20 to 5 per cent this year, state Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Thursday.

The state's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) during 2020-21 was Rs 9.78 lakh crore. The growth rate fell due to Covid pandemic by 1.26 per cent at constant prices (2011-12) but significantly better than India's projected GDP contraction at 8 per cent.

The resilience of Telangana's economy was aided by agriculture and allied sectors, which grew by 20.9 per cent, dwarfing the 3 per cent growth at national level, KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said.

Releasing the annual report of the industries and commerce department, he said that in 2020-21, the state recorded a per capita income of Rs 2,27,145 compared to the national average of Rs 1,27,768

Telangana attracted major investments from companies such as MassMutual, Laxai Life Sciences, Agasthya Foods, Trouw Nutrition, Ester Filmtech and others despite the pandemic induced slowdown, KTR said.

In 2020-21, the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) developed 10 new industrial parks and allotted 810 acres of land to 453 industries with an expected investment of Rs 6,023 crore and potential employment of 7,623.

KTR said even since the launch of new industrial policy TS-iPASS, the state has attracted cumulative investments of Rs 2,14,951 crore, creating 15.6 lakh jobs.

He pointed out that Hyderabad ranked number one in the third and latest edition of fDI's Aerospace Cities of the Future 2020/21 rankings, under the category of 'Top 10 Aerospace Cities in Cost-Effectiveness' by fDI Intelligence.com, a division of Financial Times Group.

Telangana ranks 4th in the India Innovation Index report released by NITI Aayog under the major states category.

According to Knight Frank, Hyderabad warehousing demand grew at 41 per cent CAGR in last 3 years.

He said Hyderabad has attracted two major investments in Genome Valley. Granules India is investing Rs 400 crore to set up a finished dosages unit while Laurus Labs is investing Rs 300 crore for a formulations manufacturing facility. Granules India will generate about 1,600 jobs.

Ester Filmtech, one of India's leading producers of polyester films, engineering plastics and speciality polymers, will set up a Rs 1,350 crore manufacturing plant in Telangana with a direct employment potential of 800 people.

Medha Servo Drives, a Hyderabad-based diversified firm, laid the foundation for setting up a rail coach factory in Telangana at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore. The factory is expected to create 1,000 direct and 1,200 indirect jobs.

The minister also pointed out that Telangana has also been on the forefront of promoting the use and development of new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Drones and Blockchain. Telangana became the first state to launch an actionable policy framework for Artificial Intelligence. The Telangana AI Mission (T-AIM) has been formed in partnership with NASSCOM to execute the strategy.

Cloud adoption has been mandated within the government and an easy to adopt framework has been released to support the same. Through Medicine From The Sky (MFTS), Telangana became the 1st state to pilot Beyond Visual Range of Sight (BVLOS) drone delivery of vaccines and essentials.