Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday urged young people to build start-ups and help strengthen the economy, saying Indian-origin executives lead several global companies but did not found or own them.
Inaugurating the Samakhya Chamber of Commerce in Hyderabad, Reddy said his government aimed to make Telangana a USD one trillion economy by 2034 and a USD three trillion economy by 2047. He also called for greater participation of women in the workforce and assured support for entrepreneurs and investors.
Reddy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought the cooperation of states to make India a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047. He said his focus was on development and employment generation, while politics came into play only during elections.
Referring to Indian-origin executives, Reddy cited Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and World Bank President Ajay Banga, an alumnus of Hyderabad Public School.
"Our people are only on the service side so far. My appeal to the young generation is this. We are neither inventors nor owners of global corporate companies. We are serving them. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is not the owner of the company. He is not the founder of Microsoft," he said.
Referring to Pawan Chandana, founder of space technology unicorn Skyroot Aerospace, who was present on the stage, Reddy said the company's emergence had made Telangana proud. "If 10 Skyroots emerge from our state, our region, our economy will be strengthened," he said.
Reddy said countries that had recorded significant economic growth also had substantial participation of women in the workforce. "More than 50 per cent of the women are part of the workforce in those high-growth countries. That share is lower in our country. So, women entrepreneurs need to be encouraged," he said.
As part of its efforts to promote women-led development, the state government had facilitated bank linkages worth Rs 61,000 crore for women's self-help groups, he said. Telangana has 67 lakh members in such groups.
He said the government had also enabled women's self-help groups to purchase buses and lease them to the state-run Road Transport Corporation. The government was ready to encourage entrepreneurship, he added.
Reddy said Telangana had not seen any major policy changes, unlike some other states. The Congress government in undivided Andhra Pradesh, which was in power from 2004 to 2014, had continued the policies of the preceding TDP government, which ruled from 1994 to 2004.
Similarly, his government had not scrapped any beneficial policy initiatives introduced by the BRS government between 2014 and December 2023, he said.
To achieve its economic targets, the state had been divided into three zones: CURE, or Core Urban Region Economy; PURE, or Peri-Urban Region Economy; and RARE, or Rural Agriculture Region Economy.
The CURE area within Hyderabad's Outer Ring Road is being developed as a hub for the information technology and services sectors. The PURE zone, between the Outer Ring Road and the Regional Ring Road, will promote manufacturing, industrial parks and logistics.
The RARE zone will focus on agriculture, food processing, agriculture-based industries and rural employment, Reddy said.
He said the government aimed to make Telangana a leading destination for global investment and increase the state's contribution to India's GDP from the current five per cent to 10 per cent.
Reddy appealed to investors to work with the government to realise its 'Telangana Rising 2047' vision. He assured them of support and protection for their investments through investor-friendly policies, reiterating the state's focus on entrepreneurship, employment, women's participation and long-term economic growth.
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With PTI inputs