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AP seeks RBI help to make Hyderabad India's financial capital

Our Correspondent in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has reiterated the state government's commitment to make Hyderabad an important financial services hub and sought the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India in achieving the goal.

At an interactive meeting with the chief minister, ministers, chief secretary and other officials in Hyderabad on December 7, RBI Governor Dr Bimal Jalan felt that with the pace of developments taking place in Hyderabad, especially on the information technology front, financial institutions were poised to come to the state capital and it would become a financial services hub. Jalan assured the RBI help in this regard.

Jalan said that he had seen a lot of change in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. "The country is proud of your achievements. After 52 years of Independence, one could see a change in the whole concept of governance in the country. Andhra Pradesh has become a role-model for this change," he told Naidu.

"Everyone expresses the desire that Naidu should succeed in order to give a new direction to the country. What is happening in Andhra Pradesh, thus, has wider significance and is critical to the future of economic reforms in the country," the RBI governor said.

The Chief Minister explained to the RBI governor the many reforms initiated by the state government for the all-round development of Andhra Pradesh. He said that during the last four years, the state had to face many expected and unexpected problems. The state government had, however, taken up a number of innovative programmes.

Naidu said that the state government was committed to providing "one-stop, non- stop" services to the citizens. He said that in association with the RBI, projects such as TWINS (Twin Cities Integrated Network Services) would help overcome problems in setting up mechanisms for handling e-cash. RBI's help would also be useful in setting up mechanisms for ensuring secure payments over networks.

Naidu urged the financial institutions in the country and the central government to come to the rescue of the power sector in Andhra Pradesh for the success of the experimental reforms in power sector so that others could follow suit.

The RBI governor agreed that new ways would have to be found to reward those states which were vigorously pursuing reforms. It was necessary that such states were supported in order to demonstrate the advantages of reforms, he said and assured all support to the AP government.

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Andhra Pradesh