Telangana attracts huge investments on 1st day of World Economic Forum Summit

On the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summit in Davos, Switzerland, many companies have come forward to invest in Telangana with Lulu Group announcing to invest Rs 500 crore while Spain's Chemo Pharma announced to invest Rs 100 crore in their Hyderabad site expansion over next two years.

Hyderabad: On the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summit in Davos, Switzerland, many companies have come forward to invest in Telangana with Lulu Group announcing to invest Rs 500 crore while Spain's Chemo Pharma announced to invest Rs 100 crore in their Hyderabad site expansion over next two years.

Telangana IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, who is leading the Telangana delegation to WEF- 2022, held a series of meetings with various industry leaders at the Telangana pavilion and many companies have come forward to invest in Telangana after their meetings with the Minister, an official release said here on Monday.

Lulu Group would start their operations in the food processing sector in Telangana with a investment of Rs 500 crore, it said. The investment was announced during a meeting between Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, and the company head Yusuf Ali in Davos. On behalf of the Telangana government, KTR handed over the necessary permission documents to Yusuf Ali for the food processing unit to be set up by the company.

Yusuf Ali said that besides this investment, they also have plans of setting up another unit in the food processing sector and an official announcement in this regard would be made soon. He said they would be laying the foundation stone for their food processing units shortly. The company's unit would export food processing products from Telangana, it said. Yusuf Ali further said the Lulu group would invest more in the construction of large-scale commercial complexes in the State of Telangana.

Expressing happiness over Lulu Group's investment decision, KTR said the Telangana government was working towards establishing demand for agricultural products and agricultural allied products through food processing units. Lulu Group's setting up an international-level food processing unit would help this cause, he said.

Chemo Pharma announced investment of Rs 100 crore in creation of second line in their production area in Hyderabad for the production of pharmaceutical finished dosage forms. The company is also planning to initiate a new active pharmaceutical ingredient and R&D centre in Hyderabad, along with continuing new product development activities in solids and injectable in Genome Valley here, the release said.

The announcement was made after Rama Rao's meeting with leadership of Chemo Group- Jean Daniel Bonny, R&D Director - Pharmaceuticals Generics Business at World Economic Forum, Davos.

Rama Rao said, “I am delighted that Chemo, a leading pharmaceutical company, is continuing to grow from Hyderabad. This is indeed a testament to the life sciences eco system in the city and Genome Valley.” Zurich-headquartered Swiss Re said it would set up office in Hyderabad in August this year. KTR also welcomed Swiss Re for establishing its unit in Hyderabad. Swiss Re is a 160-year-old insurance organisation, and operates in 80 locations globally.

Read:WEF invites KTR to technology governance summit

Swiss Re's Hyderabad centre would start with an initial headcount of 250 and be focusing on data and digital capabilities, product-modelling, and risk management, the release added.

Veronica Scotti, Group, Managing Director and Ivo Menzinger, MD, Public Sector Solutions, Swiss Re, met Rama Rao and the Telangana delegation at the Telangana pavilion today.

Meanwhile, speaking at a panel discussion on 'Telangana Life Sciences Industry's Vision For 2030' in Davos, Rama Rao said the life sciences sector in India needs revolutionary reforms to strengthen the sector and compete with the world. India needs a conducive regulatory framework in life sciences sector, he said.

He highlighted that Telangana is known as the ‘Vaccine Capital of the World' and 'Life Sciences Capital of India' and said the Hyderabad Pharma City spread across 19,000 acres would be the world's largest pharma cluster.

Rama Rao further said innovation in life sciences sector is the need of the hour. He added that the sector is fast-growing in the digital drug discovery space and there is a need for the IT and pharma sectors to come together and work. (PTI)