Santosh Patnaik Amaravati

AndhraPradesh Government on Thursday gave its stamp of approval for an investment of Rs7,799.96 crore by Agastya Green Energy Limited to set up an Integrated plant of 12 GW of Si Ingot and Wafer Manufacturing Plant at Orvakal Mega Industrial Hub (OMIH), Guttapadu in Kurnool district.

Industries and Commerce Secretary N Yuvaraj said the company's request for allotment of 143 acres and 26 cents has been cleared. The project will generate employment opportunities for 1,000 people along with tailor-made incentives as per AP Industrial Development Policy (4.0) 2024-2029.

The project proponent, as per the timelines set by the government, will complete land development by December, 2026, procurement and delivery by November, 2026 to June, 2028 and launch construction between December, 2026 to March, 2028. The ramp up and trial run will be taken up from October, 2028 and January, 2029, so as to launch commercial production in January, 2029.

The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) at its recent meeting noted that the current proposals have been in discussions with the State for their upcoming facilities for some time and hence, deserve consideration with the existing benchmarked incentive framework. The stable governance mechanism demands that existing and upcoming leads be accorded incentives on par with the benchmarked framework for another six months, until the end of the current Financial Year, to ensure propriety and early closure of such projects to develop a best-in-class solar project.

The SIPB had also considered the request of the project proponent for allotment of lands on concessional basis that the indicated lands are rocky in nature and involve further heavy investment to level the lands including conditioned blasting.PV ecosystem.

After considering the proposals, the government sanctioned the tailor-made incentives up to 69 per cent of fixed capital investment (FCI), limited to Rs4817.1 crore including land allotment of 143.26 acres at the concessional rate of Rs10 lakh per acre, limited to subsidy of Rs41.49 crore, contingent upon completion of FCI of Rs.6,981.70 crore by January 1 2029, under AP Industrial Development Policy (4.0) 2024-29.

The incentives also include capital subsidy of 53.5per cent of eFCI, limited toRs3,360.40 crore, to be disbursed over 10 years from date of commercial production (DCP), 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty on purchase of land for industrial use, limited to Rs 1.07 crore, power tariff reimbursement ofRs1per unit for 10 years from DCP, limited to Rs290.00 crore, for energy procured from DISCOM.

The company will also get Electricity Duty exemption at Rs1per unit for 10 years from DCP on total energy consumption of the plant, limited to Rs290 crore, 100 per cent SGST reimbursement received to the State of Andhra Pradesh, in the form of cash alone being considered on the products which are manufactured and sold within the State, after deducting refunds issued, if any, for a period of nine years, limited to Rs378.54 crore.