Investors Wait & Watch

The cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh under new chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is keeping investors in a wait and watch mode with clarity yet to emerge on the way ahead on infrastructure, renewable energy and education. It has already cancelled construction work orders issued prior to April 1 but not grounded so far. That has, in turn, impacted several companies such as NCC and L&T, among others.

It has, for instance, cancelled work orders worth around Rs 6,100 crore for NCC alone. In solar and wind energy, the government wants to re-negotiate power purchase agreements (PPAs) already approved by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), which the Andhra High Court has now stayed till August 22. The state wants to withdraw the other PPAs (around 21) that are pending APERC approval. In education, the move is now on to re-fix fees charged by private educational institutions.