By IANS
Washington : Visiting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has invited US companies to invest in his state, saying it would become digitally-driven with the setting up of the semiconductor manufacturing facility Fab City.
Speaking at the Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) luncheon meeting at Santa Clara, California and a roundtable with CEOs of semiconductor companies at San Francisco Wednesday, he urged them to make Andhra Pradesh their Asia Pacific headquarters.
Inviting IT and semiconductor companies and other industries in the United States to invest, he said IT exports from Andhra Pradesh were expected to reach $4.5 billion this year.
Stating that 1,200 acres land has been provided for FAB City near the upcoming new international airport in Hyderabad, he said it would be developed as an integrated hub with multi-modal transportation, hi-speed custom clearances and a centre of manufacturing excellence in semiconductors and related eco-system.
"We offer substantial incentives to the investing companies in the IT sector. I request the IT industry to avail of the opportunities," he said winding up his four-day visit to the United States.
Reddy said that semiconductor consumption in India was only $3 billion and was expected to touch $45 billion by 2015. "We hope to build a $10 to $12 billion manufacturing base in the entire food chain of semi-conductors," he added.
Reddy also invited investments in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agro-processing, mineral-based industries, engineering, hi-tech manufacturing, textiles, leather goods, tourism, gems and jewellery.
The chief minister said 53 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the private and public sector were coming up in Andhra Pradesh.
"These SEZs are a combination of multi-product and product specific and provide very attractive incentives like tax holidays. I encourage you to avail of this opportunity lest you miss the boat," he told business leaders.
Highlighting the advantages of state capital Hyderabad, he pointed out that the World Bank report titled "Doing business in South Asia 2007" rated it as the most business friendly city in the country.
"We have most of the large enterprises from the US like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, CA etc profiting from their decision to out locate to Andhra Pradesh," he said.