Industry leaders expressed concern at the frequent shutdowns in the state affecting the performance of the sector.
The separate Telangana and, its counter, united-Andhra agitations have hit the state’s industry hard, Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah said on Tuesday, after a meeting with industry representatives and government officials.
Industry leaders, sources said, expressed concern at the frequent shutdowns in the state affecting the performance of the sector.
“We are also losing investments. While some companies are already looking at other states to set up units, others are adopting a wait-and-watch policy,” Rosaiah said.
Officials said Bharat Forge was planning a unit in Andhra, but was now negotiating with Gujarat. French automaker Peugeot, too, has kept its Andhra plans on hold. Caparo, a Swraj Paul company, has slowed down work at its plant in Nellore. The Lakshmi Mittal group was in touch with the state government for investments. However, it has now put the plan on the backburner.
Sri Lankan textile company Brandix, which has operations in the state, is reworking its expansion plan.
Bhel was keen on inviting prime minister Manmohan Singh to lay the foundation stone for a joint-venture turbine unit at Mannavaram in Chittoor, but, Rosaiah said, “We are now not able to get PM’s date.”
The pharma sector is said to be the worst hit as the agitations have cut its supply chains. “The pharma sector alone has lost about Rs500 crore,” the chief minister said.
Industry representatives said the problem was with the movement of goods. “Raw material supply to units and supply of finished products to the consumer has been hampered since the protesters are attacking transport vehicles. Inventories are piling up and we are missing supply schedules,” a pharma company CEO said.
The logistics problem has also hit the IT and ITeS sectors, since employees are not reporting to work on shutdown days due to fear of being attacked.
To pacify agitated industry captains, the government is working on a plan to set up a special task force to provide security to industrial assets and workers. It would also set up a toll-free number for affected industrial units.
What is worrying the government more is the plan of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to shift its mega investment meet - Partnership Summit to Chennai from Hyderabad. CII is scheduled to hold the summit from January 21 to 22. However, with the Telangana agitation disrupting schedules, it is now keen on taking the event to Chennai.
“I have asked home minister P Chidambaram and [industries minister] Anand Sharma to talk to CII and retain the event. I have also formally written to them. If we lose the event, it would be a great loss to the state,” Rosaiah said.
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