Telangana, excluding Hyderabad, may have been lagging behind coastal Andhra Pradesh in industrial growth in the last few years. But the region can expect a burst of industrial activity, given the mineral resources it is endowed with.
Its biggest challenge, however, will be on the power front, as the entire State has been facing a power crisis.
Indeed, even as the new state is formed, it will likely be a power deficit one. Of the State’s total installed capacity of 16,500 MW, about 10,500 MW is available in Seemandhra and the rest in the Telangana region.
And, of the latter’s 5000 MW, about 2400 MW is hydel power from AP Genco, the rest being thermal power from NTPC’s Ramagundam unit. The Telangana region, including Hyderabad, is the State’s major energy consumer. This includes over 16 lakh pump sets that evacuate water and cultivate farm-lands. All this has led to a huge electricity demand-supply gap.
Fresh capacity is coming up in Bhoopalapally in the second half of 2013-14 and, in two years, SCCL’s power plant in Adilabad is likely to be commissioned. Even factoring in these capacity additions, at the annual demand growth of 10-12 per cent, the gap will only widen, analysts say. This is one of the factors that had slowed industrial growth in the region. The State is estimated to have about 30,000 industrial establishments across sectors and sizes. While the coastal region has 13,284 of these, Telangana has 12,308. With the bulk of industry located in and around Hyderabad, the rest of Telangana is not industrially strong.
Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts account for a large share of economic activity in the Telangana area, with 44 per cent of the region’s registered manufacturing units.
Andhra Pradesh is among the top States in terms of mineral resources, with 48 minerals available across districts. The State is estimated to be endowed with coal reserves of 16,584 million tonnes, limestone 33,150 mt, bauxite 613 mt, barites 81 mt and granite 2,788 million cu. m.
A large chunk of this mineral treasure-trove, mainly coal and limestone, lies in the 10 districts that may soon form India’s 29{+t}{+h} State. Analysts say that if the new administration can create a friendly investment policy, the region can expect significant investments to enable exploitation of this mineral wealth.
While significant coal, limestone and manganese resources are located in Adilabad, Karimnagar and Khamam, china clay, granite, feldspar and mica can be mined in other districts of the region, including Medak and Nalagonda.