Abu Dhabi: Chief Minister of Indian state of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu asked investors from the UAE to invest in his state to boost economy and growth.
During an investment road show in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Naidu said there are a plenty of opportunities for businessmen to invest in ports, airports, tourism, inland waterways and roads.
“We are constructing a world class capital and a number of new cities and townships with good infrastructure. There are abundant opportunities for investment.”
“There are also investment opportunities in health, transportation, education and tourism sectors. A number of hospitals are already coming up to boost investments in health sector in the state.”
Naidu said industrialists, government agencies, Abu Dhabi and Dubai functionaries came forward to extend cooperation in developing the state during his visit to the UAE.
He had meetings with top executives of DP World, Emirates Airlines, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala, among others.
“We had a growth rate of 11.72 per cent growth this quarter. Our target is to reach 15 per cent.”
Meanwhile, Lulu group announced that they would be investing Dh1.7 billion in the construction of a shopping mall, a five-star hotel and a convention centre in Andhra Pradesh at Visakhapatnam, it was announced on Monday.
“Andhra Pradesh being the newest state in India has a tremendous potential for investments in various sectors especially in hospitality and retail. We’ve had many rounds of fruitful discussions with the government of Andhra Pradesh and the speed with which they approved our project is commendable. We are looking forward to the start of construction in February 2018,” said chairman of Lulu group MA Yousuf Ali.
Dr B.R. Shetty of NMC group and head of BRS ventures is also planning to to invest in building a mediciti and a convention centre in Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.
The India-UAE relationship is on an upswing following high profile visits of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 to the UAE and the subsequent visits by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to India in 2016 and early this year.
The two countries set up a UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund with a target of $75 billion (Dh275 billion) to boost investment between the two countries.
Recently, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India signed an investment agreement worth $1 billion with a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia).
