AP signs Rs218,000-cr investment MoUs, including Rs52,000-cr with RIL

The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday announced the signing of memoranda of understanding (M0U) for investments to the tune of Rs218,000 crore in the state, including Rs52,000-crore investment commitments by Reliance Industries Ltd alone.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its partners plan to invest a total of Rs55,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh, which would give a big boost to Andhra Pradesh in its efforts to garner big ticket investments that could spur job creation.

The signing of the MoU follows a meeting between Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the upcoming state capital Amaravati on 13 February.

Reliance will invest about Rs37,000 crore in an oil and gas venture in AP and another Rs15,000 crore in an electronics manufacturing plant near Tirupati. These ventures are expected to create 25,000 jobs over the next few years, the chief minister said.

The Andhra Pradesh government signed a total of 364 MoUs with various business establishments that could result in investment of Rs2,18,814 crore and creation of 3,84,662 jobs.

Reliance is planning to develop offshore gas infrastructure in the Krishna-Godavari Basin in East Godavari district, in association with BP International. Reliance is already into gas exploration from its D6 block in the KG Basin near Kakinada.

India Gas Solutions Private Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture company of RIL and BP International Ltd (BP) in the business of marketing gas and LNG in India, signed an MoU with the state government, committing an investment of Rs40,000 crore.

The Mukesh Ambani group telecom venture Reliance Jio will establish an electronics manufacturing park near Tirupati in Chittoor district to manufacture mobile phones and set-top boxes. The company plans to set up a manufacturing facility on a 150-acre site.

To facilitate the investment and employment, Andhra Pradesh government will promote clusters of educational institutions like ITIs and diploma colleges in the vicinity, a senior official said.

As a pre-condition to setting up the electronics manufacturing park, Mukesh Ambani also wanted the state government to develop a workmen housing corridor in the vicinity of Tirupati Growth Corridor. The state government is yet to respond to Ambani s requests, the official maintained.

The MoUs were signed in the first two days of the ongoing three-day Partnership Summit at the Harbour Park here, state industries minister N Amarnath Reddy said.

In the energy sector 34 MoUs were signed, involving investment proposals worth Rs1,11,921 crore, the minister said.

A total of 22 MoUs were signed in the industries, information technology and electronics sectors involving investment of Rs39,281 crore while 10 MoUs were signed in the aerospace and defence sectors proposing investment of Rs9,406 crore, Amarnath Reddy said.

The second day of the investment summit saw the signing of 285 MoUs proposing investments of a total Rs1,74,568 crore with promise of providing employment opportunity to 2,86,371 persons while on the first day, 79 MoUs were signed promising investments of Rs44,246 crore, including 15 MoUs in automotive sector for an investment of Rs15,224 crore, the minister said.