Telangana’s focus is on quality of doing Business, says KTR

Hyderabad: Ever since the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings were introduced, Telangana topped the list every year except for one year. This year too, Telangana was adjudged as the ‘Top Achiever’ by the Central government based on the implementation of the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) for the year 2020. “We believe that we […]

Hyderabad: Ever since the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings were introduced, Telangana topped the list every year except for one year. This year too, Telangana was adjudged as the ‘Top Achiever’ by the Central government based on the implementation of the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) for the year 2020. “We believe that we topped the rankings this year too. The Central government perhaps does not want to accept this and clubbed us with a few other States in the ‘Top Achievers’ category,” Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said on Monday.

Participating in the FTCCI Excellence Awards presentation event here, he said Telangana has set its focus on EoDB as well as peace, cost and quality of doing business in the State. As a result, about 24 per cent of the investments that have come to the State are from repeat investors. Though a new State, Telangana is now competing with Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat which have a strong manufacturing base, the Minister pointed out.

Rama Rao said industries suffered a two or three-day power holiday per week before 2014 and industries staged protests demanding a supply of quality power in the past. “The industry was ready to pay more for power. There were also doubts about the flight of capital due to the power shortage. However, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s vision ensured that the State overcame the power crunch and emerged to be in a position to supply 24/7 power to domestic, industrial and farm sectors,” he said, adding: “Gujarat faced a power crisis and imposed power holidays this year while Telangana ensured continuous supply,” he said.

Decentralisation of IT

While Hyderabad continues to be the investment backbone, the State government, he said, has created plug-and-play facilities in Warangal, Mahabubnagar, Warangal, Nizamabad and Karimnagar. Each is about 50,000 sqft. Another 75,000 sqft is being added at Khammam.

Rama Rao called upon overseas investors to choose Telangana as the gateway for their investments. “India is not just Delhi or Mumbai. It is a federal State. Your experience of doing business in India will vary with the gateway you choose,” he said, stressing that Telangana in the past eight years has not seen any industrial conflict, unrest or arson.

New revolutions

Telangana was now seeing a green revolution following the completion of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. Crop productivity, particularly paddy, had increased. Telangana was now the largest player in inland fisheries. The Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Project will be completed soon. The State was also witnessing white, pink and yellow revolutions simultaneously giving an impetus to dairy, meat and edible oil segments respectively, he said.

The State has set a target of five lakh acres under palm cultivation. It already gathered about 10,000 acres for the Telangana State Special Food Processing Zone (similar to SEZ). Pending industrial incentives would have been cleared to a large extent but for the Covid impact, he said.