Vijayawada: IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh vowed to make Andhra Pradesh an ultimate destination for Information Technology (IT) industry in the country.
He said that AP will attract big ticket industries very shortly soon after the announcement of the Centre’s data policy. He said that he is hopeful of creating at least five lakh jobs in IT industry in AP in the coming five years. Responding to the questions asked by legislators Vamsikrishna Srinivas, Ganta Srinivas Rao, Vishnukumar Raju and Eswara Rao about the development of IT industry in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, Lokesh said that TCS will open its unit in the port city within three months.
Lokesh said that it was heartening to see that 20 percent of IT workforce across the globe are Telugus. He said that about 150 IT companies came to the state during 2014-19, providing employment to 50,000 people. He explained that they have signed an MoU with Adani to set up the data centre in Visakhapatnam and organized a conclave with prominent IT firms to attract investments.
“Many companies including IT firms backed out of their promises after YSRCP regime demanding shares and bribes from the top companies which never happened in the past,” said Lokesh.
He said that firms like Nixi and STBI withdrew their plans to set up firms in Vizag due to the approach of the previous govt. He said that AP was badly hit due to the corrupt and unethical policies of the previous govt. “I have spoken to all top IT companies in the last five months and revived our promise to extend our support. TCS will commence its operations within three months. We are looking suitable land to locate Infosys branch and hopeful of launching it within six months,” said Lokesh. He said that they would create an eco-system to generate at least five lakh jobs in IT industry alone in AP.
He said that he found during the interactions with several data centre chiefs during his recent US visit that many data centres moved to Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Telangana due to the non-cooperation from the previous regime.
He said that Visakhapatnam would have become the capital of the data centres had the previous regime gone ahead with the right policy. “I am confident of getting at least $100 billion to AP out of 300 billion dollars are being invested in this sector every year,” said Lokesh.
He said that they were waiting for a suitable policy framework from the Centre, particularly with regard to data security, taxation and data embassies.
