Telugu states vie to woo investors at Davos

Hyderabad: This year's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos promises to be an interesting event for Telugus as Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will vie for investments, with their respective chief ministers, known as 'Guru and Sishya,' having previously served in the same party.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, before joining Congress, worked in TDP under N Chandrababu Naidu's leadership for a significant time. There are many occasions when Revanth Reddy had openly acknowledged N Chandrababu Naidu's leadership skills.

The leaders would now compete at Davos to attract investments to their states. Incidentally, both Revanth and Naidu arrived in Zurich at the same time and had a courtesy meeting at the airport before going to Davos on Monday.

Last year was the first WEF meeting for Revanth Reddy as the chief minister. Following his victory in the assembly polls in the fag end of the previous year, Revanth Reddy led a delegation to Davos in 2024, where he successfully attracted investments worth Rs 42,000 crore. Telangana has set a target this year to attract Rs 1 lakh crore in investments, and has scheduled meetings with investors and entrepreneurs for the next few days. An already existing, business-friendly ecosystem and environment, with the presence of many MNCs in Hyderabad, may work in favour of Telangana.

For Naidu, he is a regular at the WEF, as he attended the international event multiple times during his tenure as chief minister of the United Andhra Pradesh between 1999 and 2004 and also between 2014 and 2019 after the bifurcation. His son Nara Lokesh too participated in the WEF event while he was IT minister in Naidu's cabinet.

The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government showed little interest in attending the WEF annual event between 2019 and 2024. Covid prevented the WEF event from taking place for two years, and during the remaining three years of Jagan's tenure, Andhra Pradesh only participated in the annual event in 2022. In 2022, Jagan led a delegation to the Davos meeting, where the then government claimed to have signed MoUs worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore. Later, Jagan didn't show interest in attending the Davos meet due to his government's other priorities. Cut to 2025, it will be Naidu's first WEF event after he returned to power, and there are high expectations from the Andhra Pradesh delegation.

The Andhra Pradesh government aimed to create 20 lakh jobs over five years, with a task force led by Minister Nara Lokesh working to attract investments. The government has introduced over 15 new policies, such as the Industrial Development Policy, MSME Policy, Electronics Policy, and others, to attract investors. These initiatives will be highlighted at the WEF to attract both national and international companies to the state.

On day one, Naidu's team meets the Indian ambassador and engages with industrialists, including 10 at the Hilton Hotel and Telugu industrialists at the Hyatt Hotel under the "Meet and Greet with Telugu Diaspora" event. Nadu will attend a dinner meeting with industrialists and have a special meeting with ArcelorMittal's Lakshmi Mittal.

On Day 2, he will participate in sessions on green hydrogen and meet CEOs from companies like Coca-Cola, LG, Cisco, and others. He will also meet UAE Economy Minister Abdulla Bin and join discussions on "Energy Transition" and "The Blue Economy." Additionally, he will participate in media discussions with national and international outlets, including Bloomberg, to explain AP's policies.

He will meet more business leaders on Day 3 and attend numerous meetings each day. On the fourth day, he will return to Zurich and then head back to India.