KTR backs innovation, infra, inclusive growth

Telangana, which attracted investments to the tune of Rs 1.7 lakh crore in last five years, wants to keep up the momentum by adopting a three-pronged approach of focusing on innovation, infrastructure and inclusive growth, said IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao.

“We started focusing on many industry sectors where we want to grow our presence. Hyderabad and Telangana are known for life sciences, IT, aerospace, defence and manufacturing industry. I believe in the 3I mantra – Innovation, Infrastructure and not Investment but Inclusive growth – which is the key for India to pole vault in the industry segment,” he said.

According to him, inclusive growth, when ensured, would create more jobs locally. Innovation and entrepreneurship today were not confined to just Hyderabad or other urban centres but the twin qualities are spreading to tier II and III cities as well.

“You have a fantastic platform today (in Telangana) where government is willing to hand hold you, to help you understand and tackle the initial teething pains, to help and guide you by even providing a mentoring network. T-Hub, T-works and WeHub and a bunch of other platforms were not available for previous generation of entrepreneurs. It is time to start looking out and investing in ideas,” he narrated.

Speaking after presenting awards at the ‘Man’Exe 2019, organised by the



CII, he said Telangana will continue to be attractive to investors as the GSDP is growing at a healthy 14.9 per cent. The per capita income in the State was higher at more than Rs 2.06 lakh compared to the national average of Rs 1.26 lakh.

Telangana, has created 13 lakh jobs after it introduced, the revolutionary single window clearance system TS-iPASS. In all, the Government has given approvals for about 11,000 units.

“I don’t think there is a better time to invest in manufacture sector, textile, pharmaceuticals, electronics,” the Minister said adding that the nation is on an even keel with Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, which have been doing well.

“We can definitely feed off the trade and tariff wars between US and China, which are large manufacturing bases. We can certainly leverage on this opportunity to attract more investment to our country,” Rao said adding that Government alone cannot solve the employment problem.

He urged the industry sector and academia to offer apprenticeships and internships and give course credits to those pursuing them. “We cannot have engineers who are not ready to hit the ground running. We cannot have them going to finishing schools to join a job. CII should draw lessons from Germany model to create local employment opportunity,” the minister felt.