Wal-Mart Asked To Invest In AP

Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Wednesday revealed that during his visit to the United States Of America recently, he had invited the retail giant, Wal-Mart, to invest in the state.

Lakshmaiah told media persons at the Secretariat that he had addressed a letter to the chief of Wal-Mart, a Fortune 500 company.

"I have made all attempts to seek Wal-Mart's investments in Andhra Pradesh. The retail giant is said to have an annual income of Rs. 20 lakh crores, and even if 5% of it is invested in AP's IT, the state would flourish," the Minister said.

Ponnala also revealed that besides making efforts to invite them and provide them with the requisite infrastructure, the state government was also creating an ambience for their investments in Hyderabad, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Kakinada and Warangal.

He revealed that he had made a presentation to Wal-Mart while he was in the US, and had impressed upon it to consider Hyderabad for investment, as he believed the city is conducive to all-round development and growth and boasts of international airports, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and tremendous manpower.

In his letter, the Minister had specifically highlighted the city's infrastructure, and had urged Wal-Mart to view the AP government as a potential partner.

Ponnala also made it clear that the investor portfolio of Andhra Pradesh was extremely attractive, and that it boasts of over 1,300 IT & ITES companies, and 73 notified SEZs.

The Minister contined that AP also is home to 700 engineering colleges that produce over 2 lakh engineering graduates, who account for 20% of the nationwide count.

Talking to media persons, Lakshmaiah said that he was receiving positive feedback from US-based companies, and that he was hopeful that more companies would explore the possibilities for investing in AP.

When asked whether Andhra Pradesh is being put on sale in the form of investments, the Minister replied in the negative.

"We are leaving no stone unturned to make Hyderabad as the most-preferred destination for the overseas IT companies," Lakshamaiah said. (INN)