Help turn Amaravati into another Hyderabad, Andhra CM Naidu urges industry

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday urged industry to help him turn Amaravati, the new capital of his state, into another Hyderabad, but also flagged the need for pursuing responsible capitalism.

Speaking at the concluding session of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII’s) Annual Business Summit here, the 75-year-old leader spoke of the need to treat people as capital and not as liability to address increasing income disparity. He said his vision is of initiating a “P4 model” for inclusive growth where P4 stands for public-private-people partnership.

Naidu recalled how he pioneered India’s first wave of infrastructure reforms through public-private partnership (PPP) models in power, telecom, roads, and ports. While they brought development, they also increased disparities, he said. The Andhra CM said he hailed from a middle-class farming family, but got opportunities at crucial junctures in his life. He referred to how B R Ambedkar, the architect of India’s Constitution, and former President A P J Abdul Kalam received crucial help from benefactors. “I urge India’s top 10 per cent wealth creators to mentor and handhold the bottom 20 per cent. This is the essence of responsible capitalism,” he said.

“For over three decades now, you have understood and engaged with my vision and knowledge. Back in the mid-1990s, the CII was still an emerging platform, struggling to find relevance in India. I was often cautioned that associating with industrialists or attending global forums like Davos would tarnish my image as pro-rich and cost me votes. Despite these warnings, I continued to visit Davos whenever I held office, from 1995 onwards, even though many chief ministers at the time did not,” he recalled.

To CII President Sanjiv Puri’s remark that industrialists referred to him as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Andhra Pradesh and not as the state’s CM, Naidu said the moniker hurt him politically. But he pointed out that entrepreneurs generate wealth and revenue, which help fund impactful welfare programmes. "Without wealth you cannot have welfare programmes," he said.

During the years when the CII Partnership Summit was held in Hyderabad, it brought immense visibility and investment. “Now, I seek your support to bring investment to Andhra Pradesh, so we can continue creating wealth. We are at a truly inspiring moment in time,” the Andhra CM said, adding that it is fortunate for the country that at this critical juncture it has “the right leader” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Naidu said India is the fourth-largest economy, and will soon become the third-largest. “But from this point on, the real competition begins with China and the US. The industry must prepare to meet this challenge,” he said, adding that India lags behind in manufacturing and needs to strengthen its ability to produce globally competitive products.

He said during his first term as the CM of undivided Andhra, from 1995 onwards, he built a thriving ecosystem, especially in Hyderabad, which now contributes 70 per cent of Telangana’s income. While Hyderabad was a “brownfield” capital, “destiny has allowed me to build a greenfield capital in Amaravati”, he said and invited industry to help him build it. Naidu detailed the various projects that are coming up in Amaravati, including India’s first Quantum Computing Centre. He also sought industry’s support in establishing a Global Leadership Centre in Amaravati to train entrepreneurs and political leaders.

The Andhra CM elaborated on his government’s tieup with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Kuppam to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare and establish real-time medical monitoring. He also talked about the river-interlinking projects Andhra, and the plans to establish aquaculture, horticulture, and agri-processing zones in the state to increase rural income.

To a question on how Andhra stands out at a time when several states are involved in competitive federalism, Naidu said there are so many brands but only a few will have value, and “CBN (Chandrababu Naidu) is a brand”. He said “credibility” cannot be earned overnight, it takes time to build.