Key points
- The state has lined up 141 MoUs and 30 government orders worth ₹12,13,853.23 crore, with 2,46,373 jobs promised.
- Delegates from 58 countries, including 16 overseas ministers, are in Visakhapatnam for the 31st summit on November 12 and 13.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah is due at the inauguration and Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan closes the summit on Friday at 4 pm.
Andhra Pradesh opened the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam on Thursday with a headline target: 141 MoUs and 30 government orders worth ₹12,13,853.23 crore, which the state says could create 2,46,373 jobs. The two-day event, hosted by the state government with the Confederation of Indian Industry, runs on November 12 and 13 at the Andhra University Engineering College grounds.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is due to inaugurate the summit, with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal as chair and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu as co-chair. No MoU had been reported signed at the time of writing, so the figures below are what the state has lined up, not what has been signed.
What is on the table
The agreements are to be exchanged across both days. Only one counterparty is named so far: a dedicated agreement with Kia, the carmaker. Two of the MoUs fall under the P4 (Public Private People Partnership) initiative, the state’s anti-poverty programme. The sectors named include ports and shipbuilding, energy, aviation, defence, space, AI and quantum technology, food processing, tourism and skills.
Not every figure points the same way. The state’s own pipeline for the summit is ₹12.14 lakh crore, but District In-charge Minister Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy has put fresh MoUs at about ₹11 lakh crore, and pre-summit expectations were stated as up to ₹11 lakh crore and about 2.5 lakh jobs. A sector-by-sector breakdown of the larger figure has not been released.
Who is in Visakhapatnam
The organisers say delegates from 58 countries are attending, including 16 overseas ministers and about 40 international-level representatives. Named ministers include the UAE’s Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Slovakia’s Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky, Singapore’s Minister of State Gan Siow Huang and Canada’s International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu. The World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Director General Daren Tang is also expected.
From the Centre, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Sarbananda Sonowal, Chirag Paswan, Pralhad Joshi and Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu are down to lead sessions. More than 400 business-to-business meetings are planned, along with country sessions on Japan, the UAE, Russia, Europe and Africa. A parallel AP Women and Growth Summit is on at a Visakhapatnam hotel, where Shah is also scheduled to speak in the afternoon.
How we got here
The summit has been held every year since 1995. Last year’s edition in Visakhapatnam was inaugurated by Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan and drew more than 3,000 delegates from 62 countries. Outlets differ on how much it produced, with totals above ₹10 lakh crore and ₹13 lakh crore both reported, so this report does not use a figure for comparison.
Before this year’s summit, five regional conferences in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Amaravati, Ananthapuramu and Tirupati signed 194 MoUs worth ₹86,522.07 crore, with a promise of 1,47,951 jobs. On October 8, Goyal and Naidu invited global businesses to the summit, with Goyal calling Centre-State cooperation “TEAM INDIA”.
The record so far
The state’s own count since June 2024 is 714 projects with ₹22.6 lakh crore of intent and 19.3 lakh jobs. Of these, 526 projects worth ₹17.2 lakh crore have been converted and 303 projects worth ₹7.1 lakh crore are grounded or being grounded. Separately, the government says 272 projects worth ₹6 lakh crore are operating, and that Andhra Pradesh drew 25.6% of India’s FDI in 2025-26.
A committee of ministers and officials led by IT Minister Nara Lokesh will monitor whether the commitments turn into projects. Naidu, who welcomed delegates on X on Wednesday, said: “A very warm welcome to all delegates arriving with fresh ideas and big aspirations.”
Why it matters
MoUs are statements of intent and are not binding investments. The gap between the ₹22.6 lakh crore of intent and the ₹6 lakh crore of operating projects is the figure to watch: roughly a quarter of what the state has announced since June 2024 is running. Jobs are the other test, with 2.46 lakh promised from this summit alone.
Security is heavy. About 2,700 police personnel have been deployed, with drones, CCTV and body-worn cameras, and a command and control centre watching the venue, according to the city police.
What happens next
Day two on Friday has a fireside conversation with Naidu on P4 and the zero-poverty goal, and sessions on space, AI, quantum, skills, tourism, energy resilience and highways. Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan attends the valedictory session at 4 pm with Governor S Abdul Nazeer and Naidu. The MSME exhibition and AP Pavilion open to the public on Saturday, November 14. The final count of MoUs signed and their value is expected when the summit ends.