Andhra CM Naidu urges industry to turn MoUs into inaugurations, join ‘P4’ to lift poor families

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday urged companies to convert investment agreements signed at a business summit into operating projects quickly, and asked them to back his P4 (public-private-people partnership) programme through CSR spending aimed at the state’s poorest households.

Addressing the second day of the CII Partnership Summit, Naidu said the government would clear approvals and allot land once an agreement is signed, but investors must commit to an inauguration date.

“I am never interested in foundation stones or paper MoUs. I will be happy only when projects are inaugurated, so speed is very, very important,” he said, urging companies to set a “speed record”.

As many as 11 MoUs were signed with a proposed investment of over Rs 1.40 lakh crore and an estimated employment potential of 10,472 jobs in the presence of Naidu on the second and concluding day of the 31st CII Partnership Summit here on Friday.

Emphasising on the P4 programme, Naidu said the state’s earlier focus on public-private partnerships in telecom, roads and power had created wealth, but the gap between the rich and the poor needed to be bridged.

“Without investment, we cannot create wealth, and without wealth we cannot empower people,” he said. P4 adds “people” to the framework.

Under the model, the top 10 per cent of society, called Margadarshis (guides), are expected to hand-hold the bottom 20 per cent, termed Bangaru Kutumbams (golden families), through education, guidance and timely support rather than a one-time financial aid.

Two commitments were announced at the summit. Hero Group’s Brijmohan Lall Munjal foundation will fund scholarships for about 1,120 students from 28 districts who have passed Class 10 and are joining India’s elite engineering institutes, the IITs. Each student will get Rs 2.9 lakh, taking the total outlay to Rs 32.48 crore.

Conglomerate ITC Ltd will work with about 100 villages covering 25,000 families for comprehensive development. Naidu said ITC’s involvement would help ensure “no more bottom 20 per cent”.

He urged every entrepreneur to adopt at least 4-5 families anywhere in India through CSR and said he would review company-level progress and outcomes every year, creating what he called healthy competition among corporates.

Naidu cited TVS, which has adopted 3,000 families in Kuppam. In one case, a woman worker in a brick unit received Rs 1.5 lakh as loan or equity, hired 20 workers and now runs the unit, earning about Rs 25 lakh a year. In another, an EV auto driver used his profits to buy two cows and later opened a shop, building three income streams.

Citing an O P Jindal study, he said Andhra Pradesh ranks 13th in per capita income but second, after Goa, in access to equality. He claimed that the state’s welfare delivery was reflected in the 2024 election win and an additional 3.6 per cent vote share in recent local body polls.

Calling it an “inspiring time”, Naidu pointed to the 5,000 acres earmarked at Tirupati for space activity and said Skyroot Aerospace had told him it would launch satellites. He said other entrepreneurs were working on space-based solar power and space data centres.

Recalling his push for IT three decades ago, he said the next wave lay in AI, data centres, quantum computing, drones, semiconductors, robotics, aerospace and defence. A global leadership centre is being set up in Amaravati with CII.

He also called on young people to work in areas, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, drones and robotics.

“Tomorrow belongs not to America or China, but to India,” he said.

(PTI)