MSMEs will drive Andhra's economic shift: CM Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said MSMEs will drive the state’s economic transformation and announced plans to establish industrial parks in all constituencies.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said MSMEs will drive the state’s economic transformation and announced plans to establish industrial parks in all constituencies.
The CM also set a target of creating 100 unicorns in the state.
“MSMEs will lead Andhra Pradesh’s next phase of economic growth and the government aims to support this through industrial parks in every constituency while targeting the creation of 100 unicorn companies,” said Naidu, addressing 'One Family-One Entrepreneur' MSME Growth Summit in Vijayawada in the newly inaugurated Dr BR Ambedkar Kalavedika.
He announced initiatives including startup promotion, support for women entrepreneurs and measures to strengthen industrial infrastructure and employment generation.
According to him, MSMEs would serve as a key pillar of Andhra Pradesh’s economic growth and his government is promoting the sector through industrial parks, startup support and initiatives for women entrepreneurs.
MSMEs have the capacity to turn small ideas into large industries and the sector is the country’s largest employment generator after agriculture. Andhra Pradesh has ensured access to resources to support its growth.
During the summit, Naidu virtually laid the foundation stone for 38 MSME parks.
The proposed parks are intended to provide plug-and-play industrial infrastructure and improve the 'ease of establishing' enterprises in the state.
Highlighting industrial policy measures, Naidu said the government has introduced a dedicated MSME policy alongside policies for private industrial parks while bringing startups, industrial units, experts and financial institutions onto a common platform through the summit.
Under the One Family One Entrepreneur initiative, he called for largescale establishment of industrial units and said the government has already released industrial incentives worth Rs 500 crore.
The CM announced the launch of a Cluster Development Programme at an outlay of Rs 200 crore and said one MSME industrial park will be established in every Assembly constituency.
Naidu said foundation stones had already been laid for 100 industrial parks in earlier phases and with the addition of 38 parks, the state was expanding its industrial ecosystem and thanked farmers for providing land without disputes and assured incentives for private industrial parks.
Pointing to industrial models such as Sri City, the CM said Andhra Pradesh intends to strengthen entrepreneurship and employment through industrial expansion.
Naidu said Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) women’s groups currently have access to a corpus fund of Rs 28,000 crore and announced plans to transform five lakh women into entrepreneurs this year.
He also said that startups would be promoted through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub and launched Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG) Smart Village Centre Extension centres in Kuppam, Mangalagiri and Pithapuram to encourage rural entrepreneurship.
The government also issued orders releasing Rs 200 crore for establishing common facility centres in 45 industrial clusters across Andhra Pradesh, according to the release.
Noting that the future belongs to the knowledge economy, Naidu said the government’s vision is centred on “Village to Global Market” and creating a circular economy where waste from one industry becomes raw material for another.
The Chief Minister said agreements were signed with companies including Meta, Amazon and Zoho to promote investment and entrepreneurship while urging MSMEs to emerge in strategic sectors such as space, defence and aerospace.
More than 1,500 participants, including MSME industrialists, PM Vishwakarma beneficiaries, policymakers, representatives of financial institutions and technical experts from across Andhra Pradesh attended the programme.
Claiming that Andhra Pradesh attracted investments worth Rs 23 lakh crore in 23 months, Naidu said the government’s focus remains on converting agreements into grounded industries under its “Signing, Grounding and Opening” policy.
The CM also announced that five more convention centres similar to Ambedkar Kalavedika would be developed across the state.
More than 1,500 participants, including MSME industrialists, PM Vishwakarma beneficiaries, policymakers, representatives of financial institutions and technical experts from across Andhra Pradesh attended the programme.