Start work to acquire land for mini industrial parks for women SHG members, Sridhar Babu

Industries Minister plans mini-industrial parks for women SHGs, focuses on capacity-building and BioAsia 2025 summit innovations.

Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu has instructed officials to begin work on acquisition of land for the proposed mini-industrial parks in all Assembly constituencies for women in self-help groups (SHGs).

Each park should be spread on 2 to 3 acres. Two-storey buildings should be constructed on them to provide plug-and-play facilities for 30 to 50 SHGs in each park, he said, urging the officials to create a roadmap to increase the number of SHGs from 6.4 million to 7.5 million.

The Minister’s office in a release on Tuesday said Mr. Sridhar Babu highlighted how while empowering women as entrepreneurs was achievable, the real challenge was in marketing of their products. Towards tackling this challenge, he recommended appointing a supply chain consultant if required.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s vision is to ensure every woman becomes a millionaire, he said, adding even if half of this goal was achieved it would be a significant accomplishment. Stressing the importance of capacity-building programmes to enhance skills of women in SHGs, the Minister called for the ‘Saras’ product exhibitions to be conducted across all districts. SERP CEO Divya, TGIIC MD E.Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Industries Director G.Malsur and ELIIP founder Ramadevi among others participated in the meeting.

BioAsia 2025 logo unveiled

In another engagement, Mr. Sridhar Babu unveiled the BioAsia 2025 logo. The next edition of the global summit, which is also the State government’s flagship event dedicated to life sciences, is scheduled to be held at HITEX in Hyderabad from February 25 to 26. It will see the participation of delegates from 50 countries.

The summit will focus on life sciences, healthcare and health-tech, with the discussions aimed at redefining key innovations in these fields. Mr.Sridhar Babu emphasised Telangana’s pivotal role in advancing global healthcare through innovations. Key topics of discussion will include biopharmaceuticals, digital health, medical devices and advanced therapeutics. Experts will also address opportunities arising from modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics and precision medicine and how Telangana can capitalise on them, the Minister’s office said. BioAsia Director Shakti Nagappan, leaders of the pharma industry and senior officials from the IT and Industries department attended the meeting.