Eventful first year on Industries front, Telangana poised to sharpen focus

Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in Telangana focuses on new investments, policy measures, and MSME promotion in first year.

For the A. Revanth Reddy-led Congress government that rode to power primarily on a plank of social welfare, Industries emerged as an unlikely sector to hog limelight in its first year of the rule for the new investments it garnered, policy measures initiated as well as the opposition surrounding land acquisition for a pharma project and the consequent roll back of the decision.

It was rather a smooth take off on the Industries front as within weeks of assuming office the Chief Minister led a delegation comprising Minister for Industries and IT D.Sridhar Babu and senior officials to the World Economic Forum in Davos, in the process becoming the first CM from Telangana to do so, and returned with commitments of more than ₹40,200 crore investments across sectors.

About six months later, he led a delegation to the U.S. and South Korea meeting with prospective investors and securing investment commitments of more than ₹31,500 crore. Besides generating interest, these visits helped send out a message that the change of guard has had little impact on the aspirations of the State to build on its image as a preferred investment destination. Both the CM and Minister also asserted that the government will not hesitate to continue with the good policy measures of the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime.

Simultaneously, the government started working on new policy measures, especially for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and women entrepreneurs as there was a view that the hugely popular TS-iPASS (now TG-iPASS) system of time-bound clearances and self certification was oriented towards large industries and mega projects.

As part this approach, it unveiled a one of its kind MSME Policy, which included plans to promote and scale up women enterprises as well as set up several industrial estates exclusively for women. The government also promised to clear the pending incentives, to industries, for several years in a phased manner.

Apart from a focus on attracting new investments, promoting MSMEs and consolidating on Telangana’s image as home to a vibrant startup ecosystem and well poised to further spur innovation and research in key areas such as Life Sciences, the Congress government laid the ground for a steady pipeline of industry ready candidates with the Young India Skills University. Taking the public private partnership route, it has established the university that in the coming years is set to train thousands of youth for various industries. In doing so, the government has sought to address concerns of investors related to availability of skilled workforce and the aspiration of unemployed, educated youth.

But the first year of the government was not without its share of controversies on the Industries front. Soon after assuming office, the government said it has decided to scrap the ambitious Hyderabad Pharma City project, which was conceived during the BRS government on nearly 20,000 acres. Announcing the decision, the Revanth Reddy government said it will instead establish a clutch of pharma villages across the State since such projects would help handle the pollution load better.