Telangana ready to offer land cluster to Korean cos

Sharath Chowdary

The Telangana government is ready to offer land parcels for various Korean companies to set up their base in the state. The government will work on creating an investment cluster to cater to the basic needs of Korean companies investing in the state, Telangana Industries Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar told The Dollar Business.

He was speaking to the media while taking part in the Korean Caravan 2016 in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The Caravan was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

Arvind Kumar said, “Last month, Telangana Chief Secretary Rajeev Sharma had proposed to develop an exclusive industrial park for Korean companies, during a meeting with the Union government in New Delhi. We are discussing the same with the Korean delegates and have presented few land parcels to them during their visit to the city. We will offer the land and other infrastructural support required to establish their manufacturing facilities in the state. Some of the Korean companies have expressed interest to set up units here. This will be followed by on-on-one meetings. As of now very few companies from Korea have their manufacturing base in the state and we want to encourage them,” he said.

During the event, an MoU was signed between Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) to boost trade ties between Korea and Telangana. As per the MoU, there will be cooperation between both the governments in the areas of Manufacturing, Electronics, Mobiles, ICT, FMCG, Consumer durables, Food Processing, Urban Infrastructure, Agriculture, Pharma, Life sciences, Aerospace, Defence and Skills Training.

The Korean Ambassador to India Cho Hyun said that Korea can provide enormous opportunities to Telangana, through various new initiatives of the Indian government that include Make in India, Start-up India, Clean India, Digital India, etc.

B V Papa Rao, Senior Advisor to Government of Telangana appreciated the Korean Embassy for taking initiative to partner with the state government at the right time, as the state had just completed two years of its statehood. Since Hyderabad is a hub of industrial activities with strong research and development institutions in several sectors, the Telangana government believes in establishing right practices for good governance, he added.

Nrupender Rao, Chairman, CII Telangana and Chairman, Pennar Industries said that Korean firms in India have created their own mark. Samsung, LG, Hyundai and other Korean companies are household names here. In the same manner, companies from India that have set up businesses in Korea have had good returns. They have invested more than $2 billion in this south-east Asian country, he informed.

(L-R) CII Telangana Chairman Nrupender Rao, KOTRA Chief Director General Dong Seok Choi, Advisor to Government of Telangana Papa Rao, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to India Cho Hyun, Telangana Industries Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar and Telangana Tourism Secretary B Venkatasham.