Until the mid 1990s, Andhra Pradesh, the largest state in the southern region, was not much on the radar of developed states. Low literacy levels and a lack of thrust for economic development contributed to sluggish growth.

It was a pity. The state is well-endowed with rich natural resources, more importantly water resources. Two perennial rivers, Krishna and Godavari, contribute to prosperous agriculture. The northern part of the state is rich in minerals, especially coal and untapped reserves of bauxite.

The focus on development of power by the Vengala Rao government that put power development under the expert hands of N Tata Rao, brought about the first major transformation. Later, N T Rama Rao, with his meteoric rise to power, instilled the pride of Andhras. The large Nagarjunasagar dam, with the massive development of its command area, also helped to nurture expertise in engineering and construction.

These blossomed to full measure under N Chandra Babu Naidu. The liberalized regime and opportunities offered for regional parties by the coalition governments at the Centre were fully leveraged by Naidu and his young team of ministers. Grasping opportunities at the national and international levels, Naidu embarked on impressive schemes of economic development. His close involvement with the CII (he liberally partnered the partnership summits in three out of four years) also helped him to hobnob with global and national business leaders and professionals. He was also quick to grasp opportunities that were unfolding in the IT sector. Impressed with the record of Karnataka, Naidu set Andhra Pradesh on a fast track of IT development. His focus on educating and training the legislators and providing them opportunities to visit development projects abroad also helped raising aspiration levels to set up such projects in his state. Most importantly, his emphasis on higher education, massively expanding the number of engineering colleges and other institutes of higher learning and simultaneously preparing students to compete for entry into institutions like IITs and in universities abroad, was commendable. At IIT-M, for instance, students from AP could be found in large numbers since late 1990s and the state has today got an IIT of its own.

Naidu’s successor, Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, is continuing with this good work. Reddy is focusing more on agriculture and infrastructure development, In his address at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Reddy outlined some of the highlights of progress made by his state. Excerpts:

• GSDP growth rate in 2007-08: 10.64 per cent (against national growth rate of 9.03 per cent)
• Jalayagnam plans to convert 10 million acres of dry land into fertile soil. Supplemented through free power and subsidized fertilizers, agricultural growth rate had gone up to 12.02 per cent in 2007-08. This is against around three per cent, at the national level. Thus agriculture has also been contributing a significant share to the state’s economic growth.
  
• Food production rose from 137 lakh tonnes in 2003-04 to 198 lakh tonnes in 2007-08. When the present irrigation schemes are completed, AP hopes to emerge among the largest producers of foodgrains.
  
• AP is the largest producer of mangoes, chillies, turmeric, oil palm, citrus and vegetables. There are plans to expand food processing units.
  
• AP is the third largest power hub in the country. Twenty one power projects are under construction to add 15,880 MW to the state’s capacity. These include an ultra mega power plant of 4000 MW capacity at Vodarevu and a nuclear power plant of 2000 MW capacity at Kadapa.
  
• Infrastructure development through public-private partnership mode: the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the Gangavaram sea port, the Jawaharlal Pharma city and the Hyderabad International Convention Centre are examples of this. Other such mega projects include the Hyderabad metro rail, the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region, sea ports at Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam, Vodarevu and Visakhapatnam, a semi conductor manufacturing SEZ and the Fab city.
  
• The state has 303 industrial parks and 98 approved SEZs.
  
• The state recorded a 41 per cent growth in IT exports during 2007-08 - a 15 per cent share in total IT exports from India.
  
• Gas is expected to flow in abundance from the offshore wells in the Krishan-Godavai basin. Using gas as feedstock, a number of power plants, fertilizer and petrochemical units are planned. Piped gas supply to major cities is also on the anvil.

The size of the budget and Plan outlay of AP which used to be lower than Tamil Nadu’s till the mid 1990s, are way ahead today reflecting the size and robustness of AP’s economy. The entrepreneural spirit of the Andhras is also reflected in the non-resident Andhras emerging as the most prosperous NRIs in the United States who also form the largest NRI group in the US after the Gujaratis. Andhras seem to have a fascination for engineering and construction seen in the largest number of construction firms based in Hyderabad. Significantly almost all the large SEZs in neighbouring Tamil Nadu have been promoted by entrepreneurs from Andhra!