Hyderabad, Oct 23 (IANS): Telangana's Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday called for empowering the states to boost the country's growth.
Participating in a session on 'States-Invested in India' at the Public Affairs Forum of India's 7th National Forum 2020, he said that the way out of this pandemic is that the states will have to be empowered and will have to take the lead.
"Empowerment of states for economic activity and further expansion in industrialisation shall be the key," he said.
KTR, as the minister is popularly known, also stated that the competition of attracting investors is not between the states but between India and the rest of the world.
He also mentioned that the 3-I mantra - innovation, infrastructure, and inclusive growth is the key to success.
The minister told the delegates that Telangana is the first state in India to introduce a self-certification policy (TS-iPASS) for investors, and stressed that it is important to have existing investors happy as they can be the biggest ambassadors of the state across the world.
"Six years after this policy was launched, we successfully attracted $28 billion of investments, and 23 per cent of this has come from our existing investors," said KTR.
"In Telangana, we don't just help companies invest in the state, but also hand-hold the industries coming here as they set up their operations. We act as advocates for our investors and take their policy inputs. We also parley with key Government of India leaders, for it is in the interest of the nation," the minister added.
He mentioned that the top five valued technology companies in the world -- Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon -- have their second-largest base outside their headquarters in Hyderabad.
"Telangana contributes to 35 per cwent of the country's bulk drugs and pharmaceutical manufacturing. We are the vaccine capital of the world," he said.
With 13 sessions and over 60 speakers, the session focused on strategies the industry needs to adopt for an effective public affairs practice.
The other delegates who participated in the session include Union Minister for MSME, Investment & Export Sidharth Nath Singh and FICCI Secretary General Dilip Chenoy.
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