HYDERABAD: Terming Telangana's new industrial policy as "futuristic", several investors on Friday promised to put their money in India's 29th state over the next few years. Among those who assured immediate entry into the T-market were industrial conglomerate Ruia Group , mobile phone makers Micromax Informatics Ltd and leading retailer Wal Mart-India .

The company leaders unanimously praised the state government for drawing up a "one-of-its-kind" investor-friendly policy that not just assured ease of doing business but was also free of any scope for corruption. "Further, officials here are very responsive and supportive. That's what drove me to Hyderabad," confessed Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder of Micromax, sharing that his company was in talks with a few other states before finalizing on this city.

Micromax, which has already shortlisted a 50-acre government land parcel about 10 km from Shamshabad airport, is all ready to set up its second manufacturing unit in the country there. Its maiden unit is located in Uttarakhand. "We are looking at an investment of about Rs 400-500 crore. This could prove to be our door to the rest of South India," Agarwal said, pointing out Hyderabad also offered skilled workforce, excellent connectivity (courtesy, the international airport) and a team of driven government officials.

Ditto for Ruia Group chairman Pawan K Ruia , who seemed visibly overwhelmed by the new industrial policy. "Have you ever heard of a government that not just fixes a time-frame for clearance but also includes a clause to penalize officials in case they fail to adhere by the norm? I have never seen this in any state," Ruia said.

Perhaps that explains why his company, after all these years, is working on setting up a rail coach factory here. "We have not firmed up our budget, but it would be somewhere between Rs 400-500 crore. We are hoping to start immediately," the company chief said, admitting that it was the ample availability of power, water and land that drew him to Telangana a state that he had been "watching and analyzing" for a year.

Meanwhile, while Wal Mart already has a footprint in the capital, the retail major is all pumped up to expand now not just in Hyderabad but other parts of the state too. "Over the next three-four years, we hope to open multiple outlets. We are looking at Warangal, Karimnagar and other such cities apart from Hyderabad. Our existing store in the city has received very good response and we want to expand our base," shared president and chief executive officer, Krish Iyer. He added: "After the first store here, we had shifted our focus to North India. Now is the right time to come back here. The government is doing a fabulous job."

No wonder then that IT and panchayat raj minister K T Rama Rao is on cloud nine and highly optimistic about the future of the new state. "With a very determined chief minister and a wonderful policy, I am certain that our state will soon become one of the top five in India in terms of industry and IT growth," he said, while insisting that the government would focus on an all-round development as opposed to concentrating the growth to Hyderabad alone.

