Andhra government to allow foreign retailers in state

Machilipatnam: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday said his government will allow foreign players to set shops in the state in tune with the Centre's decision allowing foreign FDI in multi-brand retail.

"The multi-national companies will invest Rs 500 crore on infrastructure activity like cold storages under the FDI norms. Such investments will directly benefit the farm sector and farmers will get more price for their produce," Reddy said while interacting with fishermen at Chavalipadu village in Krishna district under the state government's reaching out programme 'Indiramma Bata'.

He said the state government was initiating measures to raise the fish produce from current Rs 11,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore in the next five years.

"The government has decided to abolish Non-Agricultural Land Assessment (NALA) Tax to the tune of Rs 469 crore on fishing farms," Reddy added.