The state of Andhra Pradesh suffered a lot on several fronts during YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure due to hasty and ill-thought-out policies that drove away many investors and industrialists. Abu Dhabi based diversified conglomerate Lulu Group of Companies was among those companies which publicly announced that it would never invest in Andhra again after the then dispensation cancelled the allotment of land in Vizag granted by the previous government under Chandrababu Naidu.
Lulu Group had signed an agreement in 2017 to establish an international convention centre, a shopping mall, and a luxury hotel in Visakhapatnam, with an investment commitment of ₹2,200 crore. However, these plans were abandoned following the change in government.
In a dramatic turnaround, LuLu Group is back in Andhra Pradesh. Following the return of the TDP-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh, Lulu group’s MD Yusuffali landed in the state and met chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday and discussed the possibility of restarting their investments in the state again. The company is planning to launch multiplexes, hypermarkets in Vizag, Vijayawada, Tirupati and investments in food processing. This will be a big boost for the state’s tourism sector.
Chandrababu Naidu had a very productive meeting with the delegation of Lulu in Amaravati and discussed plans for a Mall and multiplex in Vizag, Hypermarket and multiplexes in Vijayawada and Tirupati, along with investments in the food processing sector across the state. He said the government of AP shall extend every possible cooperation and support.
In 2019, Jagan’s cabinet felt that there were irregularities in allotting land to Lulu Group by the previous TDP government and decided to cancel the allotment. This decision led to huge outrage from the public and the opposition as it would hamper future investments. Later, Jagan’s government tried to sell the land in an open auction at inflate prices. However, there were no buyers and the land remained unused in the last five years.
In the last five years, not even a single mall of any premium project came up in Vizag despite being projected as an executive capital by the previous government.
