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Andhra Pradesh is the fourth largest economy in the country and second largest in the south.
Blessed with fertile land, water and supportive agro-climatic conditions, Andhra Pradesh is a flourishing agricultural state. It is one of the leading producers of various cash crops like tobacco, dry chilly, groundnut, turmeric, oilseeds, cotton, sugar, jute etc. The state produces some of the finest varieties of fruits in the country. Andhra Pradesh is the only state with abundant energy. Presence of a long coast boosted the marine industry in the state. The prosperity of agriculture harnessed the growth of allied industries including agro-processing, cold storage, warehousing, fertilisers and packaging.
Andhra Pradesh has a well-developed traditional industry owing to the availability of wide range of natural resources.
Andhra Pradesh is the second largest storehouse of mineral resources in India. The bountifulness of limestone reserves gave rise to the growth of the cement industry in the state. In addition, the state has performed well in the engineering sector. Its pharmaceutical and bulk drug industry has a significant global presence with many state based companies having established their facilities abroad. The state accounts for the highest pharmaceutical based exports in the country.
Over the years, the services sector in the state has gone through the stage of rapid growth. The contribution of the services sector to the state GDP has been consistently over 50 per cent during 2005-06. The number of software companies in the state increased by 176 during 2006-07 including 40 companies with foreign equity. This growth has been robust with three to four new companies establishing operations every month. Besides this, the state government has proposed the target of IT exports of Rs 69,000 crore from the state and employment for 3 lakh people will also be generated by 2009.
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