With an eye on boosting exports, AP approves new exports policy, logistics policy

Amaravathi: Giving a big push to exports in the state Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday approved the Andhra Pradesh Exports Promotion Policy 2022-27 and the Andhra Pradesh Logistics Policy 2022-27.

The Chief Minister also heads the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) which is a part of the industries department.

Chairing the meeting at the camp office in Tadepalli on Thursday, Jagan said the new policies will aid exporters and will boost the state's exports.

The export policy was approved ahead of Jagan's visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum later this month.

Andhra ranks second after Gujarat in exports. Earlier, it ranked 7th. To improve the quality and quantity of exports from the state, the government is aiming at ensuring last-mile connectivity to exporters under the newly-approved logistics policy 2022 which will aid companies in setting up warehouses and ports.

Mission to improve marine exports

The vision behind the Exports Promotion Policy 2022-27 is to up the exports to 3.5 lakh crores from the present 1.75 lakh crore exports. Over 46% of the country's marine exports and 60% of shrimp exports, in particular, come from Andhra and the state government is aiming at improving the rate. Jagan, while interacting with officials and ministers, said the quality of exports needs to be upped and international standards should be met.

"The state leads in marine exports. The policy should aim at increasing the quality of aqua products and should be routed through Rythu Barosa Kendras (RBKs). This will promote the sector in a better way," the CM said.

More warehouses

The exports policy aims to increase the number of warehouses to 56 lakhs from the existing 13 lakhs in the next five years. Similarly, the policy also aims at increasing cold storage units to 40 lakhs from 15.6 lakhs.

Andhra Pradesh already ranks 5th in the country in the number of cold storage units maintained in a state and the policy only aims to better the position. The policy is also aimed at improving the quality of exports, improving the conditions of seafood processing units, and setting more as well.

Reducing logistics cost

Meanwhile, the logistics policy 2022-27 aims at reducing the logistics cost from the existing 13% to 8% which would be the international standards. To achieve this, the state is considering making use of 10 ports and nine fishing hubs thus reducing the logistics cost.

The policy deems a project as a megaproject if the investment is Rs. 500 crores or is providing employment to 1,000 people. The state is ready to provide benefits to the companies in the form of 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, bearing 75% of the patent fee, and 50-100% net SGST for five years.