Centre should support performing States like Telangana: KTR

India would have achieved the targeted $5 trillion economy by 2022 if all States grew at the same pace as Telangana, said KT Rama Rao

Hyderabad: India would have achieved the targeted $5 trillion economy by 2022 if all States grew at the same pace as Telangana, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said, pointing out that however, despite being a performing State, the Centre was punishing Telangana by not supporting it.

Speaking at the annual CII event on ‘Beyond India@75 – Accelerating Telangana Growth Momentum – Resilience through Competitiveness, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability’, he said the Hyderabad Pharma City, which would be the largest pharma manufacturing cluster in the world, did not receive any support from the Centre. The State has also been denied a bulk drugs manufacturing cluster, other manufacturing clusters, industrial corridors and others.

Even though a special incentive was promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, nothing was given to both the Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

“Where is the sanctity in calling ourselves the world’s largest democracy if even the AP Reorganisation Act promises are not kept,” he said, urging for support to all States.

Stating that political affiliations should not define if a State would be supported or not, Rama Rao urged the Centre to offer incentives to performing States.

“Who are we to tell people what to eat, what to wear,” he said. While initiatives like ‘Make in India’ are good, they have not progressed much beyond slogans. The Centre should empower performing States and incentivise such States, the Minister said. Many still feel that importing from China works out cheaper rather than making locally despite the import costs, distance and other factors.

“We need to ask ourselves why making in China is cheaper, ask about our duty structures, about the roadblocks to achieving scale and efficiency,” Rama Rao said.

Terming the just concluded BioAsia a big success, he said Telangana had set a target of taking the life sciences sector value to about $250 billion, more than tripling from the current $80 billion, by 2030. The State now makes 35 per cent (about nine billion doses) of all vaccines made globally. This number would increase to 50 billion (14 billion doses) by end of next year.

At the last meeting of CII before new office bearers took over, Rama Rao urged the industry to vote for development. “Vote me back to power. I am guessing I will come back,” he said, stressing on the need for development to continue.

In the last eight years, Telangana had developed 55 industrial Parks across 28,500 acres. Currently, 72 more industrial parks were under development with a target to develop 30,000 acres in the next five years. The State had also recently announced the Telangana Mobility Valley in four clusters and had succeeded in getting big investments like the Amara Raja Batteries (Rs.10,000 crore) in Divitipally and Mahindra (about Rs.1,000 crore in Zaheerabad).

“Foxconn Chairman Young Liu was here to launch T-Works on March 2. That day, he announced the decision to set up the unit in Telangana. “There was some confusion and Foxconn once again (in a leltter) reaffirmed its commitment to Telangana. With Foxconn coming, the local electronic manufacturing ecosystem will get a big boost,” he said.

“We at the government level are also trying through various initiatives to ensure that digital literacy and technological advancement help not just the big but each and every small and micro entrepreneur. The Telangana State GlobalLinker platform is also one step in that direction. The ‘Indian Business Portal’ which we opened today for the businesses of Telangana has been designed by GlobalLinker and FIEO especially for promoting exports. The digital platform will connect our local sellers with buyers across the world, with a special focus on GI products,” he added.