As fellow Indian, I feel sad when I look at Uttar Pradesh: KTR

Hyderabad: Telangana Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday said that as a fellow Indian, he feels sad looking at the state of Uttar Pradesh.

KTR was addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) annual event at the Grand Kakatiya Hotel in Hyderabad and he sharply criticised the centre and said that there is a state of ‘Policy Paralysis’ in Delhi.

“Today I proudly say, my state is doing well. But as an Indian, I feel sad when I look at Uttar Pradesh. They are lagging behind. 22 crore people in Uttar Pradesh and what is their contribution to GDP? 15 per cent. We are 4 crores and we contribute 5 per cent. Why? because of our strategic inability to come out with innovation, our strategic inability to actually rethink our own selves,” he said.

The minister asked the industry leaders at the CII event to question the central government over policy issues. “The CII should ask the Government of India. Why is it that when we manufacture it in India it’s more expensive and when we import it’s cheaper? What is this logic? On one side we talk about Atmanirbhar Bharat and self-reliance and on the other side, our policies are so flawed that even if we want to manufacture in the country it’s more expensive. How do you survive in this environment?” he asked.

On Make in India

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brain child, the Make in India initiative, KTR said that mere slogans aren’t enough. “It’s good to have ideas and slogans. Make in India, is a great slogan. But we need to back it up with reforms and policy. We need to actually have a solid policy backup, saying, Make in India, don’t just assemble in India.”

KTR opined that to compete with China, India has to think in terms of scale. “I have been requesting the Government of India, If you want to compete with China, you need to think on the scale. China has large industrial parks. Why is size important? It brings down the cost of production. Today, Telangana is conceptualizing a Pharma city which is about 14000 acres. We have already set up India’s largest industrial textile park in Warangal and we have been asking the Government of India to support us. First, there is policy paralysis in Delhi. They don’t listen. I am not saying that Investments are not coming. But they are not coming as much as they are needed,” he said.

On Defence manufacturing

On the issue of defence manufacturing in the country, the minister wasn’t very happy with the centre’s way of approach. “Today we are witnessing a war between Russia and Ukraine. I am sure many Indians have thought of this and so have I. What is our position on making our own missiles, our own defence systems and ammunition? About two years ago, the Government of India was conceptualizing the defence industrial production corridor. I went to the then, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman Ji and told her that the most logical destination for this to be in India, because of the existing ecosystem, is between Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Hyderabad has a large number of defence PSUs and so does Bengaluru. So it makes a great sense of deal to have this corridor between these two large cities. She said the decision is already made and it would be Bundelkhand. I want Uttar Pradesh to grow, but, will it attract Lockheed Martin or some of the large aerospace companies? I asked her. But she said no and that the decision has already been made,” he said.

Support performing states: KTR to Centre

KTR further implied that the Centre acts with a sense of partiality with non-BJP states. “For India to grow, support the states that are doing really well. I am all for supporting UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. I have nothing against them. I want them to do well. But our policymaking has to be in sync with strengths. You can’t say because Uttar Pradesh has 80 seats and Telangana has 17, so we won’t do it here and that UP has Yogi and he is upyogi (useful) to GOI and KCR is in Telangana and he isn’t useful to us so we won’t set up the corridor here. Telangana is also part of this country.”

Invest India CEO & MD Deepak Bagla, CIl Southern Region Chairman CK Ranganathan, Bharat Biotech Chairman & MD Dr Krishna Ella, IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and other industry leaders were present at the event.