Telangana minister KT Rama Rao slammed the central government for not helping small and medium-sized enterprises that have been hit by pandemic-induced lockdowns.
Telangana minister KT Rama Rao slammed the central government for not helping small and medium-sized enterprises that have been hit by the pandemic.
“The prime minister announced a Rs 20,000 crore package last year. Where is it? We don’t know,” the chief minister’s son stated.
He urged the Centre to work with the states to bring the MSMEs out of distress.
Earlier, KT Rama Rao had criticised the central government’s Covid-19 vaccination policy and demanded that vaccines be administered across the nation free of cost.
TELANGANA’S ECONOMY
The minister also launched the annual information technology (IT) and industry report of Telangana. Minister of IT and Commerce KT Rama Rao said the state had outperformed many others during the pandemic and secured great gains in this regard.
He said that Hyderabad had created 8 per cent IT and related jobs despite the pandemic. This, KT Rama Rao stated, was significantly higher than the nation’s 2 per cent growth in job creation.
Telangana has surpassed Karnataka in terms of office space, Rao added.
Despite the pandemic, Telangana’s growth rate is greater than the national growth rate and the state’s share of national GDP has increased from 4.74 per cent to 5 per cent this financial year, the minister said.
Although the state’s growth rate fell by 1.26 per cent at constant prices (2011-12), it was still significantly better than India’s projected GDP contraction at 8 per cent, Rao pointed out.
Additionally, he said, “In 2020-21, the state recorded a per capita income of Rs 2,27,145 compared to the national average of Rs 1,27,768.”
“Telangana continues to attract major investments from companies such as MassMutual, Laxai Life Sciences, Agasthya Foods, Trouw Nutrition, Ester Filmtech and others despite the pandemic-induced slowdown,” he concluded.
