Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought swift approvals for key infrastructure and industrial projects, including the ₹24,269 crore Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-II and formal recognition of the Hyderabad-Bangalore defence corridor.In a detailed presentation, Reddy highlighted four priority areas: metro expansion, regional connectivity, semiconductor ecosystem, and defence manufacturing. The Phase-II metro project proposes 76.4 km across five corridors, with Centre’s share pegged at ₹4,230 crore, the state’s at ₹7,313 crore, and the rest through debt financing. He said no expansion had occurred in the past decade, and the proposals, submitted in November 2024, had addressed all Centre’s queries.Reddy also pressed for early clearance of the Regional Ring Road, urging simultaneous development of both northern and southern corridors around Hyderabad to avoid traffic bottlenecks and cost escalation. He proposed a 370-km Regional Ring Railway and a greenfield expressway linking Bandar port to a dry port near Hyderabad to support the pharma sector.Citing Telangana’s strengths in semiconductors — with R&D centres of AMD, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and units by Foxconn and Kaynes — Reddy sought Centre’s backing for India Semiconductor Mission projects, pointing to the state’s industrial land, skilled workforce and seismic safety.For defence manufacturing, he urged official notification of the Hyderabad-Bangalore defence corridor. Despite being home to over 12 Defence PSUs, 1,000 MSMEs, and global players like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, GE and Safran, Hyderabad, he said, lacked Centre’s policy support. He also sought faster clearances for defence JVs, assured government orders, and PLI schemes for MSMEs.Reddy requested that Hyderabad host the next DefExpo, citing its status as India’s leading Make in India aerospace and defence hub.
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