Vijayawada: The AP Industries and Commerce Minister on Thursday said, AP is one of the champion states poised to propel the Indian economy forward under the “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat” initiative.

He participated in the India chem-2021 conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, he welcomed doyens in the petrochemical industry, and investors to explore AP for the natural competitive advantages it offers. The state is looking to build self sufficiency in Petrochemical products and drive economies of scale for downstream chemical industries, he said.

The minister in his speech said AP is the only state where three national industrial corridors run across districts. These corridors dovetail the largest petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) region, which spreads across 640 sq.km between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, in the country, minister said.“In these uncertain times, we must explore synergies between the National Industrial Corridor Development programmes with the PCPIR development.”

The minister also said that AP has attracted marquee investments in recent times within chemical and specialty chemical industries that do not have dependencies on basic feedstock availability, he said about 70 mega industries and more than 5000 MSMEs had invested ($2.4 billion) in the state, contributing to 8% of India’s production value, as on 2019-20 fiscal.

“Though there are many glass makers, specialized glasses such as those used in CT scans, medical tubes are extremely difficult to make,” Gowtham Reddy said and felt that if the Union government could establish partnerships with noted players such as Saint Gobain, then strategic support could be provided to institutions like the AP Med Tech Zone in Visakhapatnam.