Telangana Model Can Be Replicated Across Nation: Minister KTR At Turbocharging India Event

The minister delivered a keynote address at the Harvard India Conference 2022 held virtually late Sunday

Telangana Minister KTR. (PTI File)

New Delhi: Telangana's minister for information technology and industry KT Rama Rao has described the state as the most successful startup and said the Telangana model of development can be replicated across India.

The minister delivered a keynote address at the Harvard India Conference 2022 held virtually late Sunday.

During the one-hour-long session, he highlighted the all-round development of Telangana, the Hyderabad IT ecosystem, friendly industrial policies, and investment opportunities existing in the state.

Minister KTR spoke at the conference under the theme 'Turbocharging India @ 2030'. "If I want to talk about Turbocharging India @ 2030, I should speak about Turbocharging Telangana since 2014," the Minister said in his opening lines.

"By 2030, I want to witness an India that leads the world, in almost every category. I strongly believe that cues for 'Turbocharging India@ 2030' can be had from Turbocharged Telangana since 2014," said KTR.

KTR stated that the schemes and policies being executed in Telangana should be executed across the country to speed up the development wheel of India. "What Telangana has done, can be done at the national level too. Telangana Model of Development can be replicated across India, for sure," said KTR.

"Growth should be distributed fairly across society and create opportunities for all. I think that any one-sided policy emphasis will have negative effects. Diversity is India's greatest asset. The same diversity requires the widening of policy frameworks beyond the narrow focus," the minister opined.

KTR stated that the Telangana government's effective policy design & implementation, equal focus on rural and urban development, vision towards 3 I's -- infrastructure development, inclusive growth and innovation -- helped the youngest state of India achieve remarkable progress in just 7 years.

Telangana has been progressing under the visionary leadership of CM KCR. The Telangana government's equal focus on development and welfare measures has made it a model state which is being emulated by other states, KTR said. "It used to be said earlier that what Bengal thinks today is what the country thinks tomorrow, but in the modern context it is what Telangana thinks today which influences the country tomorrow," he added.

KTR stated that Telangana achieved the third rank in the country in terms of percentage increase in GSDP at current prices between 2014-15 and 2020-21. "The NITI Aayog report says that the Gross State Domestic Product of Telangana by provisional estimates was Rs 9.80 lakh crore, an increase of 94 per cent from its 2014-15 value," he added.

Minister KTR highlighted that despite the Covid-induced economic slowdown in 2020-21, Telangana's Per Capita Income (PCI) of Rs 2.37 lakh at current pricing is the third highest in the country -- the latest data from the Union ministry of statistics and program implementation.

"Telangana is the 11th largest state in terms of geographical area and 12th in terms of population in the country. I am proud of the fact that Telangana stood in fourth place in contributing to the economy of the country," KTR said.

The state government's focus on every sector -- from agriculture to IT, power generation to industry, health infrastructure to quality education has brought in remarkable progress in the state.

He pointed out that Telangana attracted over Rs 2.2 lakh crore investments since the launch of its innovative TS-iPASS industrial policy. These investments employed about 16 lakh people.

The minister highlighted that Hyderabad has emerged as a global hub for some of the most marquee names from the IT world. "You will be amazed to learn that the five most valued tech companies of the world, namely Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook, each of them has their second-largest presence anywhere in the world outside their headquarters in the US in our city of Hyderabad," KTR said.

"The cabins of the US President's 'Marine One' helicopters are made in Hyderabad by Tata Sikorsky Aerospace Systems, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Sikorsky," said the minister. He also highlighted that Hyderabad produces one-third of global vaccine output. "I take immense pride in saying that Hyderabad is the vaccine capital of the world," he added.

He highlighted that seven villages from Telangana ranked among the top 10 under the SAGY program (Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana of Union Ministry of Rural Development).

He told the conference that Telangana is building the Kakatiya Mega Textiles Factory (KMTP), one of the world's largest Textile Parks. KMTP is expected to house state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities with a development strategy based on the 'Fiber to Fashion' concept.

"IT exports of Telangana touched a new high of Rs 1.45 lakh crore in 2021. Since the formation of Telangana, we have been able to achieve a Compound Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.25 per cent, up from Rs 57,000 crore in 2014 to Rs 1.45 lakh crore now. Employment in the IT/ITeS sector had also increased by eight per cent to touch 6.3 lakhs."

KTR stated that the government of Telangana is developing Hyderabad Pharma City as the "World's largest integrated pharma park to promote domestic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and to consolidate the leadership position of India in the pharmaceutical sector.

"Telangana has already built the world's largest lift irrigation scheme, Kaleshwaram Project, in just three years. This is a record in the history of irrigation projects in India," he said.

"Rythu Bandhu, the investment support scheme under which every landholding farmer gets Rs 10,000 per acre every year. The brainchild of CM Sri KCR, this revolutionary is one of the best reforms in the agriculture sector in the country since Independence," KTR added.

(With inputs from IANS)