Telangana State Planning Board Vice Chairman B.Vinod Kumar said that Telangana has made tremendous progress in IT and Life Sciences sector despite COVID-19 crisis.
Addressing a webinar, he said that IT exports have grown at an extraordinary rate of nearly 18% plus in the fiscal year 2019-2020 under the guidance of IT Minister K. T. Rama Rao. “This is twice the national average. Close to six lakh people are employed by the IT and ITeS firms in Telangana,” he said.
“Significant chunk of India’s production capacity of vaccines is located in Hyderabad. “Hyderabad can produce anywhere from 20 to 30% of vaccines. So, when the vaccine arrives – whether it be here in India, and even Hyderabad, or abroad – you can be sure Hyderabad and Telangana will be playing a critical and key role in enabling the world to come out of this dark COVID-19 situation,” he said.
He said Hyderabad is now the life sciences capital of India with over 800 life sciences companies, and 30% of India’s pharmaceutical production takes place in Telangana with over 50% of India’s bulk drug production taking place here. “We will be able to achieve the Vision 2030 target of production worth $100 billion and employ over four lakh people in this sector,” he said.
Mr. Vinod Kumar said Telangana has identified a number of key thrust areas in addition to IT and Life Sciences sectors, including aerospace and defence, food processing, MSME, FMCG, electronics, logistics, textiles, renewable energy, automobiles, gems and jewellery, plastics and polymers and green tech.
He said the State is at the forefront of implementing innovative single window clearance system, and its “Deemed Approval” policies, supported by legislation, are implemented through the highly acclaimed TS-iPASS. It also has a “Meet and Beat” policy in place whereby it offers to match the benefits extended by any other place, across the world, for companies that are interested in relocating to Telangana.
