AP leads investment race among states in FY26

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the single largest recipient of announced investment intentions in the first nine months of FY26 (April to Dec 2025), capturing 25.3% of the total, according to a Bank of Baroda report, titled ‘Investment Climate in 9M-FY26'. This means that roughly one quarter of all new project announcements announced during the period were linked to the state. New investments announced as per CMIE's database amounted to Rs 26.62 lakh crore in the country during this period, higher than the Rs 23.88 lakh crore of expected investments last year. Of this, Andhra Pradesh accounted for more than 25%, or about Rs 6.74 lakh crore.As per the BoB report, the next largest shares were held by Odisha (13.1%), Maharashtra (12.8%), Telangana (9.5%), and Gujarat (7.1%). Together, these five states, including AP, accounted for nearly 68% of announced investments. States such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh recorded more modest shares in the single digits, while larger states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal featured much smaller proportions.These sectoral patterns help explain why Andhra Pradesh attracted such a large share during this period. The broader investment picture for the period in AP was skewed towards information technology, manufacturing, logistics, chemicals, metals and metal products, which together formed the bulk of announcements.Andhra Pradesh witnessed several large-scale announcements in the last nine months, including the Rs 1.3 lakh crore AI data centre project of Raiden (a subsidiary of Google), a Rs 98,000 crore 1GW data centre by a Reliance joint venture, Rs 1.1 lakh crore by ABC Cleantech (Evren) — a Brookfield entity — and Axis Energy, Rs 82,000 crore by ReNew Energy Global, and Rs 38,250 crore by Ecoren Energy. While the majority of IT investments will be concentrated in and around Visakhapatnam, the bulk of green energy projects are planned for Rayalaseema districts.The state attracted nearly Rs 13.25 lakh crore in new MoUs at the recently held CII Partnership Summit, spanning IT, energy, manufacturing and emerging technologies. Beyond digital infrastructure, AP has also drawn renewable energy deals worth over Rs 3 lakh crore across solar, wind, biofuels, green hydrogen and pumped storage.IT minister Nara Lokesh, in a social media post on the BoB report, said Andhra Pradesh is not catching up but pulling ahead. "This is the result of consistent reforms, speed in decision-making and an unambiguous commitment to investors. Our focus has been clear — create a predictable policy environment, enable industry at scale and deliver on the ground," he said. Lokesh added that the sate would continue to build long-term partnerships with investors, prioritise job creation, and ensure that investments convert swiftly into on-ground projects. "Every investment announcement must translate into factories, jobs, and economic opportunity for our people," he said.