Andhra Pradesh to announce new industrial policy in March

Andhra Pradesh's special chief secretary, industries and commerce, Rajat Bhargava, has said the state will announce new industrial policy in March. Bhargava told Business Today the new policy will replace the current policy which will end in March.

Bulk of the work in relation to the new policy has been completed "with almost 80 per cent of the policy draft already in place", Bhargava said. He added the government was in touch with various stakeholders to give the new industrial policy finishing touch.

Industry in the region has been keen on a stable policy following the change of government. Many contracts entered into by the previous government had come under review after the new government took over last year. Bhargava also dismissed a media report that claimed carmaker Kia was planning to shift its facility in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu.  

He said Kia Motors and Andhra Pradesh government were in strong partnership and the company was, in fact, planning to ramp up its production capacity from 2 lakh units per annum to about 3 lakh units this year. He also referred to Kia's statement that the company had no plans to shift out of Andhra Pradesh. He further revealed Tamil Nadu government's principal secretary in the industries department had conveyed to the Andhra government that they were not in talks with Kia Motors.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh's Finance Minister Buggana Rajendernath also denied that Kia may be considering moving out of Andhra.

Kia Motors' unit in Anantapur started operations in 2019 with an estimated investment of around Rs 14,000 crore. The state government claims chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who visited the Kia plant for inauguration, had accepted Kia's demand for an under-bridge on the road near the plant. The Chief Minister has also extended full cooperation to the plant to meet their requirements, the finance minister said.

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