Andhra Pradesh seeks national law to protect investors from political vendetta

Andhra Pradesh plans an Investment Protection Act to shield investors from regime changes and political vendetta. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced the proposal at CII summit, while Nara Lokesh cited investment commitments worth Rs 22.6 lakh crore since June 2024

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday announced that the State government would bring an Investment Protection Act to safeguard investors from regime changes and political vendetta.

He urged the Union government to bring in similar legislation at the national level to provide greater security and confidence to investors across the country.

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In his remarks at the inaugural session of the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, he said concerns over regime changes and what he described as vindictive politics were creating apprehensions among investors.

Naidu said his government was preparing a State-level Investment Protection Act and would send the Bill to the Centre after its passage in the Assembly.

He urged Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to take up the proposal with the Central government and work towards converting it into a national law.

The Chief Minister expressed confidence that a Central Act offering protection to investors would encourage a stronger flow of investments into India and attract global investors.

Earlier, State Human Resources Development, Information Technology, Electronics and Real Time Governance Minister Nara Lokesh said the government would enact a law to protect investors.

After pioneering the implementation of escrow accounts, Andhra Pradesh is set to become the first State in India to implement such a law for investors.

“Such legislation will provide greater confidence and assurance to industrialists and encourage them to invest,” he said.

He requested Union Minister Goyal to facilitate policy clearance and its implementation at the national level.

Lokesh urged global industrialists not merely to visit Andhra Pradesh, but to invest, innovate and grow there. He urged them not just to build their factories in the State, but to make Andhra Pradesh their corporate home, assuring them of the government’s complete cooperation and support.

“We have a coastline of more than 1,000 kilometres. Visakhapatnam, our major port, along with our other ports, currently handles approximately 100 million tonnes of cargo annually. Four new greenfield ports are under construction at Ramayapatnam, Mulapeta, Machilipatnam and Kakinada. With these additions, our cargo-handling capacity is set to double,” he said.

The minister stated that approximately one-third of India’s seafood exports by volume originated from the Andhra Pradesh coastline. Nearly 80 per cent of India’s shrimp exports came from farms in the State.

He also revealed that nearly 60 per cent of India’s air conditioners were manufactured at a single location in Sri City.

“We produce more than 40 per cent of India’s cocoa. More than 40 per cent of the country’s dry chilli production comes from the Guntur region. Andhra Pradesh is India’s ‘Fruit Bowl’. It is the largest fruit-producing State in the country, accounting for approximately 16 per cent of national production. We also rank first in the country in fish and egg production. More than half of India’s FCV tobacco production comes from Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

Lokesh said that since Kia commenced production in Anantapur in 2019, nearly 1.9 million cars had rolled out of its plant, with exports reaching more than 90 countries.

He also shared that since June 2024, Andhra Pradesh had received investment commitments worth Rs 22.6 lakh crore. More importantly, 73 per cent of these commitments had been converted into approved projects. These projects were worth Rs 17.2 lakh crore and were expected to generate employment for 12.7 lakh people.

Of these, 51 per cent had reached the ground-level implementation stage. Projects worth Rs 5.9 lakh crore, with the potential to create 7.4 lakh jobs, had commenced construction, he said.