Tremendous opportunities for MSMEs in shipbuilding, repairing: HSL CMD

Visakhapatnam: Cmde Hemant Khatri CMD, Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) has said that there are tremendous opportunities for MSMEs in shipbuilding and repairing. "We have got close to 33 percent business from MSME sector through liberalised tendering processing and participation norms," Khatri said speaking at a webinar on Boosting AP's economy amid the pandemic organised by FICCI Andhra Pradesh State Council in association with Vizag Industrial Scan (VIS). "HSL procurement is presently Rs 800 crore and may go to Rs1,200 crore. There are phenomenal opportunities in shipbuilding and ship repairing especially from MSMEs," he added. 

Emphasizing the role of PSUs Khatri said that the Andhra Pradesh government is giving a lot of emphasis to infrastructure especially the shipping industry at Vizag. Vizag is very well connected with the marine industry and strategically located and many of the shipbuilding contracts come from Colombo. The majority of the profit is earned through shipping building, and we have built close to 200 ships.

The objective of the webinar was to look at ways of reviving economic activity in some of the key and stronghold sectors in AP. Some of the key sectors identified for the webinar included -Agriculture & Food Processing, Healthcare, Infrastructure, PSU, Hospitality & Tourism industry.

G Krishna Kumar, VP, Crop, Operations & Sustainability, ITC Ltd during his address analysed the role of agriculture and quoted that close to 27 percent of GDP is coming from agriculture to Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh is the leading exporter of major agriculture products. ITC has its presence in 22 States and has been associated with AP for 100 years.

Andrew Edlefsen, Principal Commercial Officer, US Consulate, Hyderabad elaborated on the bilateral trade and said that the US consulate is extending cooperation to the government of AP in key areas.

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