Hyderabad : Bharat Forge is keen to invest in Andhra Pradesh in defence technologies, renewable energy and automobile forging, the company’s chairman Baba N. Kalyani said as he met the state’s Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Davos.
Naidu, who is in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit, met some top business leaders. He told them about single-desk initiative of his government and assured of industrial approvals within 21 days.
The chief minister suggested that Anantapur or Kurnool would be suitable for defence technologies, Krishnapatnam-Yerpedu-Tirupati for investments in auto components manufacturing since it has a port and an ecosystem of auto manufacturers in Sri City and Chennai.
Naidu and Usha Rao-Monari, CEO, Global Water Development Partners, discussed the areas of collaboration in areas like integrated water resource management, drought management, waste water management, capital city water management, power, transportation and drip irrigation systems.
He also had a meeting with members of Global Agenda Council (GAC) India team which agreed to choose Andhra Pradesh as the pilot state for their developmental activities.
The firm agreed to collaborate with the state to eradicate poverty and to work in the area of skill development.
The team included Ajay Khanna, president, Jubilant Bhartia Group, India; Gita Gopinath, professor of economics, Harvard University, US; Neeraj Bharadwaj, director, Moser Baer, India; Shamina Singh, executive director, MasterCard Centre for Inclusive Growth, MasterCard, US; Subramanian Ramadorai, chairman, National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), India and others.
Naidu also met Swiss Solar Technology Consortium. The two sides agreed to set up a joint committee for cooperation.
The proposed panel will work out a master plan in the key technology clusters of smart cities, smart villages, renewable hybrid energy solutions and water management.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect will be signed shortly.
A delegation led by Naidu interacted with officials from 10 leading cleantech companies including solar photovoltaic and solar thermal (Solventure AG, SRB Energy, swissmango gmbh), smart grids and smart metering (inGrid AG), water (iMeth AG, Trunz AG), smart cities and energy efficient buildings (LEP Consultants, Soltherm AG), and investment for smart cities (PwC, XNRG).
Inviting Swiss firms to invest, Naidu highlighted the massive potential in Andhra Pradesh for such projects.