‘Sri City attracts investment of ₹1,200 cr. in 2022 via 13 firms’

Nova Air plant inauguration at Sri City during January 2022

Sri City has signed memoranda of understanding over the course of 2022 with 13 firms that would fetch an investment of more than ₹1,200 crore, said Ravindra Sannareddy, founder-MD.

“These investments are spread over the next few years. It would provide employment to 4,000 people,” he said in an interview. Sri City is an “integrated business city” in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), located about 60 km from Chennai,

According to him, Sri City, meanwhile, has now become a hub for air-conditioner manufacturing with large firms having invested, or announced plans to invest, close to ₹2,000 crore in the last few years, he said.

“The entry of Blue Star, Daikin, Havells and Amber have established Sri City as the fast-emerging, air-conditioner manufacturing hub in the country. Amber produces different brands of ACs,” he said.

Sri City is home to more than 200 firms from 28 countries through offering multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Domestic Tariff Zone (DTZ) and Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) services. Of these, 127 firms are operational.

As the township provides multi-port connectivity between Chennai and A.P., it has attracted investment of about ₹28,000-35,000 crore over the years and provided jobs to 52,000 people, he said.

During the calendar year, 12 companies including Epack Durable, Blue Star Climatech, Bell Flavors Fragrances, Autodata, Daikin and Havells had commenced construction work.

Thirteen units such as NovaAir, Axxelent Pharma, Blue Star, Panasonic Life Solutions, NGC Transmission, Airmaster Indo Plast, Kimberly-Clark and Amber have come on stream, while Parksons Packaging, VRV Chart Industries, Hamilton, Alstom and Toray ramped up production.

Mondelez, Alstom, Coldman Logistics and Thermax, among others, achieved greater scale, while Isuzu Motors celebrated its 10th anniversary, he pointed out.

In the January-September period, the total value of exports from Sri City touched ₹750 crore. This compares with exports of ₹1,325 crore for full-year 2021.

“The year 2023 looks [promising] for Sri City with a good number of enquiries and the associated creation of an ecosystem. The government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat and Production Linked Incentive schemes will drive our growth,” said Mr. Sannareddy.