Telangana has attracted investments worth Rs 21,000 crore across various sectors during the recently concluded annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting at Davos in Switzerland, an official release said on Saturday, January 21. A delegation led by Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao has successfully concluded its trip to Davos and the minister's efforts to bring investments to the state have yielded fruitful results, it said. "All the meetings at the WEF were highly productive and we were able to attract Rs 21,000 crore at the meet," Rama Rao said.
Presenting the growth story of Telangana and pitching for investments, the minister participated in meetings with leaders of top global organisations, attended round tables and spoke at panel discussions in which he shared his thoughts on a wide array of subjects in the four-day trip. In addition to this, the minister also interacted with the Indian diaspora in Zurich and highlighted the progress of Telangana to the NRIs in Switzerland. When the global economy is on the brink of recession, Telangana managed to bag some big-ticket investments. The Telangana delegation was successful in showcasing the state as a global investment destination and gateway to India, the release further said.
The big draw of this edition of Davos trip was the WEF coming forward to establish its first India centre in Hyderabad. This thematic centre will focus on life sciences and health care. Some major investments are as follows: Microsoft announced to set up three more data centres in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 16,000 crore; Bharti Airtel Group to set up a large Hyperscale Data Centre in Hyderabad with Rs 2,000 crore; Eurofins, a global leader in the pharma sector, has announced the establishment of a state-of-the-art laboratory campus in Genome Valley with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore. Other global companies such as PepsiCo, P&G, Allox, Appollo Tyres Ltd, WebPT, and Inspire Brands came forward with investments worth Rs 2,000 crore.
Sharing his experience of the visit, Rama Rao observed that the WEF is the right platform to introduce Telangana, which has exceptional industrial policies and infrastructure, and said that Telangana is strengthening its ties with companies on the WEF platform. Rama Rao said bringing huge investments to the state and thereby creating employment is the driving force. "I believe that all the new investments and meetings regarding prospective investments will yield favourable outcomes," he added.
On the occasion, the state minister thanked officials from the IT and Industries Department and other departments who were involved in making this trip successful. The delegation comprised Principal Secretary, IT and Industries Departments Jayesh Ranjan; Special Secretary, Investment Promotion and NRI Affairs E Vishnu Vardhan Reddy; Director, Lifesciences Shakti Nagappan; Director, Automotives Gopal Krishnan; Chief Relations Officer, Amarnath Reddy Atmakuri; and Director, Digital Media Dileep Konatham.