Two AP e-hardware clusters to witness total investments of Rs 3,540 cr

HYDERABAD: The Government of Andhra Pradesh state is gearing up to begin work on two electronic hardware clusters within Hyderabad entailing an investment of Rs 3,540 crore, very soon. Of this investment amount, Rs 940 crore would be spent by the State and Central Governments on developing infrastructure, while the remaining would be invested by private players on setting up manufacturing units.

A contribution of up to fifty per cent towards the cost of infrastructure development has been agreed by the Central Government. Moreover, the center gave in-principle nod to develop the clusters as a part of the national policy to develop and promote electronic hardware production within the country.

ECITY

The existing Fab City is scheduled to be rechristened to ‘eCity‘, in order to house the hardware firms in approximately 600 acres of land. Almost forty per cent of the land would be declared as special economic zone (SEZ) area. The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs. 580 crore, of which Rs 235 crore would be contributed by the center as a grant.

A commitment to invest more than Rs. 1,800 crore has been made by the Electronics Industries Association of Andhra Pradesh (EIAAP) towards establishing manufacturing units. These units would have a capacity to generate more than 35,000 jobs.

In accordance with Andhra Pradesh’s Information Technology Minister – Ponnala Lakshmaiah, the electronic hardware industry had registered business amounting to Rs. 6,500 crore within the State last fiscal as against the national figure of Rs 35,000 crore.

According to government officials, the oil import bill would soon be surpassed by the electronics import bill, which in turn would cast a heavy burden on the national exchequer. The formulation and the constitution of the hardware cluster policy would prove effective to a large extent in reducing the burden.