GIS to attract industry doyens to Visakhapatnam

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Global Investors Summit (GIS), scheduled to be held in Visakhapatnam on March 3 and 4, is expected to bring together prominent industrialists from across the country.

According to the government sources, the inaugural session of the summit is likely to feature keynote addresses from industry doyens like Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, KM Birla, Sajjan Jindal, Sanjiv Bajaj and Naveen Jindal among others.

Post the opening ceremony, panel discussions will be organised to highlight the essential sectors. Andhra Pradesh industries and IT minister Gudivada Amarnath told TOI that the state has targeted Rs 2 lakh crore investments through the two-day GIS.

"The state has identified 13 priority sectors such as agriculture, agro-based industries, maritime sector, manufacturing, food processing, ports, IT and electronics, handlooms, and textiles. Nearly Rs 70,000 crore investments may come from renewable energy sector," he said.

The government wants to enhance the revenue of the state, improve investment flow, and consequently increase employment opportunities to the youth. The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. has a nearly 48,000-acre ready land bank to allocate to the industries, said Amarnath.

“The GIS will showcase the opportunities and favourable business conditions available in the state. AP currently accounts for about 8% of the total exports of the country. An early bird policy is being created to provide additional support and incentives to those industries which execute their projects within six months after signing the agreements,” he said.

Industrialists and the AP government will sign memoranda of understanding for setting up industrial units in various sectors on second day of the summit, March 4.

Business to business meetings will be held to promote interaction between potential investors and industry players to facilitate investments. Industry-focused sessions will take place, including discussions on disease prevention led by Bharat Biotech founder and chairman Dr Suchitra Ella and a talk on leading the revolution in pharmaceutical research and development by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories chairman Dr Satish Reddy.

There will also be a discussion on the advantages of AP led by Welspun Group MD Rajesh Mandawewala.The summit is also likely to feature keynote addresses from several Union ministers, including Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, RK Singh and G Kishan Reddy.