Vijayawada: IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh has said that the state govt has set its focus on IT, electronics, data centre and semi-conductor policies to attract big-ticket investments.
He said that big industrial houses in data and semi-conductor sector will soon set their foot in Andhra Pradesh as they are designing the best in the class policy to outsmart competitors.
Speaking on the IT and data policy in assembly on Wednesday, Lokesh said that incentives and infrastructure will be part of the new policy. He said that the state govt has decided to grant 30 percent subsidy in the capital investment for the small and medium industries and it will become 60 percent along the Centre’s incentive. He said that they would also grant Rs.3 per unit subsidy in power tariff and performance linked incentives to the upcoming industries in the state.
He said that they have also made budgetary allocation to clear the pending dues to the IT and ITES companies which were completely neglected by the previous regime.
“Data is the future and AI is inevitable today. Data centers need green energy. We will bring more data centres to create more jobs. We have promised to provide 24/7 green energy and create required eco system required for data centers,” Lokesh assured.
He said that they have almost brought Adani Data Centre to Vizag in 2019 itself which was made to run away from the state by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. He said that they would perform bhoomi puja for the IT towers in Visakhapatnam in the next three months to set the tone to attract more industries.
He said that they were hopeful of bringing at least 1 gigawatt data centre to the state as they would grant 10 percent capital subsidy, 100 percent SGST reimbursement and stamp duty concession. He said that they have designed the policy as tailor made where incentives would depend on the volume of investments.
“We will implement customized incentives to all those who will invest either 50 megawatts or Rs.5000 crore in the data sector. We have decided to set up a stand box on AI and mission learning to provide skilled manpower for data centres. We needed to be best in class particularly in the wake of reduction of cost manufacturing in China,” explained Lokesh.
GFX
INVESTOR CONFIDENCE HIGH
*We have revived confidence among investors with a slew of positive measures after Chandrababu Naidu taking over the reins of the state: Lokesh
*The govt decisions have started yielding results as they were moving forward with speed of doing business policies
*We have already roped in TCS, Reliance Industries and ArcelorMittal which have promised to make large investments.
*It is the responsibility of all legislators to jointly promote the new policies, and everyone should become brand ambassadors of their constituencies.
*If you have contacts with IT companies, let’s go to them and convince them to invest. Making AP a global destination should be our goal: Lokesh.
