VISAKHAPATNAM: Investments worth over Rs 2.82 lakh crore were commissioned in Andhra Pradesh in the past one year and the state aspires to clock a 15 per cent growth rate next fiscal, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has said.

Inviting businesses to invest in sectors like minerals, infrastructure and railways, Naidu said the state aspires to make it to the list of top 10 states in global rankings for ease of doing business.

“India is growing at 7.2 per cent, Andhra Pradesh’s growth rate is 12.23 per cent. This year onwards, we want to reach 15 per cent… As of today, we are number one in Ease of Doing Business ranking in India by World Bank and DIPP. We want to be among top 10 in the world in ease of doing business,” Naidu said at the Investment Summit here. The Chief Minister said at the summit last year that the state had signed 328 MoUs worth Rs 4.67 lakh crore, which created employment for 9.58 lakh people. Further, 927 projects have come entailing investments of Rs 5.03 lakh crore with an employment potential of 10.05 lakh. “So far, we are able to materialise… nearly Rs 659 projects have been cleared and Rs 2.82 lakh crore investments have come to Andhra Pradesh in last one year, this is the biggest investment. No other State has got this investment. We are in close competition with Gujarat,” Naidu said. Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated with the creation of a separate state of Telangana in June 2014. As per the World Bank and DIPP report released in October 2016, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had jointly dislodged Gujarat to emerge as the best states to do business in the country. In 2015 Index, Gujarat featured at the top, with Andhra Pradesh grabbing the second position and Telangana 13th.—PTI