Andhra Pradesh govt plans MSME Parks in every Assembly segment

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has decided to give the event a skip. Naidu also declined invitation to Jagan Mohan Reddy's swearing-in ceremony.

The Andhra Pradesh government has come up with an ambitious M-Parks (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Parks) Policy with the objective of creating at least 200 such parks across the state by the year 2023.

The idea is to have one M-Park with an investment of Rs 225 crore to create 1,500 jobs in each of the 175 Assembly constituencies, with a newly-created AP MSME Development Corporation overseeing the process.

The overall target is to create around 200 parks by 2023 with 30,000 MSMEs with an employment potential for three lakh people and an investment of Rs 45,000 crore, according to the Chief Minister's Office.

But, financial crunch and non-availability of land have become major impediments in rolling out the policy, official sources said. "We could so far identify required land in only 42 Assembly segments in different districts for the proposed M-Parks," a senior Industries department official said. "Revenue officials are still working on identifying land in each constituency for these parks and that process might take many more months," he said.

Each M-Park is proposed to be set up in an extent of 100 acres in each of the 175 constituencies with the state government providing Rs 10 lakh per acre as subsidy for infrastructure development.

The total fund required for this is Rs 1,750 crore, while the government has earmarked only Rs 100 crore towards this in the 2018-19 Budget. This apart, the M-Parks Policy also promises a 50 per cent grant of the total project cost (excluding land value) but no budgetary provision has been made for this, the official added.

"Anyhow, we are going to kickstart the MSMEs in June, initially where land is readily available. Other parks will follow," he said.

Focus of the M-Parks Policy will primarily be on manufacturing and the state government has identified sectors like small engineering, fabrication, plastics, automobiles and textiles that have large scope for employment creation.

Hitherto, the so-called entrepreneurs used to get land allotted, raise a shed or so and never actually run the unit after availing the subsidy, the official claimed.

"Under the new policy, however, we will ensure that the units are functional with real employment creation. We are involving the local public representatives also to make the MSMEs effective," he added.

The state government has mooted the idea of promoting large and mega enterprises as anchor investors in the proposed M-Parks so as to enhance the market prospects of the MSMEs. At least ten per cent of the total land in each M-Park will be earmarked for large and mega enterprises to give a thrust to industrial promotion across all regions of the state.

The AP MSME Development Corporation will provide necessary business development support to MSMEs like improving quality, marketing, exports, access to warehouse facilities and skill development once the M-Parks are established.