Andhra Pradesh plans Investment Protection Act to safeguard investor interests
Minister Nara Lokesh announced the proposal to ensure policy continuity and timely incentive payments during a summit in Visakhapatnam.
Andhra Pradesh is planning to enact an Investment Protection Act to safeguard investments and ensure policy continuity across successive governments, according to The New Indian Express. Minister for IT, Electronics and Real-Time Governance Nara Lokesh announced the proposal at the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
The proposed legislation aims to address investor concerns regarding political uncertainty, policy changes, the fiscal position of the State, and the fulfilment of industrial incentives. Lokesh stated that the bill would be tabled in the upcoming Assembly session.
The government is also working on an escrow mechanism to ensure the timely payment of incentives to industries. Under this arrangement, a portion of the State’s tax collections equivalent to the due incentives would be transferred to an escrow account to avoid administrative delays.
During the summit, Kia India Managing Director and CEO Gwanggu Lee announced plans to invest approximately $2 billion to establish an additional manufacturing plant in the State. The move is expected to create about 12,000 jobs and increase the company's annual production capacity to 630,000 vehicles.
Additionally, AirTrunk, backed by Blackstone Inc., has submitted a detailed project report for two hyperscale data center campuses in Andhra Pradesh. The project could involve an investment of about Rs 1.03 lakh crore ($11 billion) and has a combined capacity of up to 1.8 gigawatts.
The State has received investment commitments worth Rs 22.6 lakh crore since June 2024, with projects worth Rs 17.2 lakh crore already receiving approvals.