Andhra inks investment MoUs for $104bn; potential for 348K jobs

At the culmination of the two-day 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced that the state had inked MoUs with the potential to bring in Rs.9.89 lakh crores ($104bn) of investment. Reassuring investors, CM Naidu said the state government will provide clearances for industries in real time with self-certification to encourage investments. The Investments Protection Act will be enacted with retrospective effect from 2024 to allay fears of investors during a change of governments, he added.

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With these new commitments, the cumulative investment intent received by the State since June 2024 has increased to Rs. 32.49 lakh crore (approximately $345bn), Naidu announced, at a time when his government is nearing the halfway mark of its five-year tenure.

Highlighting the State’s focus on emerging and strategic sectors, he said Andhra Pradesh was working towards becoming a major manufacturing and technology hub in areas such as rare earth minerals, steel production, solar wafers, solar energy and battery energy storage. "The State has identified several priority sectors, including the Critical Minerals Mission, Steel Policy, Solar Mission, defence self-reliance, Space Vision, Semiconductor Mission, Logistics Policy, Quantum Technology, Green Hydrogen and Maritime Development," he added.

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Outlining one of the developments that can be expected in the near future, Naidu said that South Asia's first commercial-grade quantum computer would be operational in Andhra's Amaravati from February 3rd, 2027, while quantum computing-related components would also be manufactured under the 'Made in Amaravati' tag.

Further, Naidu shared ambitious targets across key sectors: a target of 160 GW renewable energy generation capacity has been set, with approvals already granted for 114 GW; data centre projects with a proposed capacity of 4.6 GW have received approval in Andhra Pradesh, against the existing national installed capacity of approximately 1.5 GW; In aerospace and defence, an investment target of ₹50,000 crore has been set, along with a separate target of ₹25,000 crore for the space sector.