hyderabad andhra pradesh government today appointed noted industrialist and gmr group chairman grandhi mallikarjuna rao as chairman of the state skill development corporation apssdc and ghanta subba rao as its first managing director and chief executive officer the apssdc constituted on september 10 will function on the lines of the national skill development corporation nsdc to take the state on a speedy path of development retired ias officer k lakshminarayana has been named as apssdc director skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development of any country after bifurcation the residuary state of andhra pradesh had to forfeit revenues assets several institutions and locational advantages hence the state government intends to take the state on a speedy path of development by taking up portbased development improving air rail and road connectivity to position the state as a logistics hub and leveraging the strong agriculture base to develop information technology clusters principal secretary to government higher education nilam sawhney said in an order apssdc set up under the publicprivate partnership ppp model would also give a fillip to gasbased industries and petrochemical sector and tap the tourism potential of the state she added apssdc would be incorporated as a not for profit company under the companies act 2013 the ap government would hold 49 per cent share in the company while the nsdc and the industry would hold 51 per cent sawhney said in the order as the state economy is set to transform mature and diversify significantlydifferent and specialist skill sets become inevitable the urgency is felt more acutely as there is also need to harness the demographic dividend in the state the skill gap will need to be addressed through comprehensive efforts at various levels in order to cater to different needs of the society and the industry the principal secretary added