Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh recently said that if Goa marries Bengaluru and has a child, it would be Visakhapatnam (Vizag). He made this remark during an interview with CNBC TV18’s Shreen Bhan, where he discussed why the Chandrababu Naidu-led government sold 21 acres of land to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), instead of giving them on lease, for just Rs 0.99.
When asked by Bhan about the rationale behind offering land at such a nominal price to set up a development centre in Vizag, Lokesh responded by highlighting the project’s long-term impact.
The Minister explained that the project would generate nearly 12,000 IT jobs in Vizag, which he called the IT capital of Andhra Pradesh. “We are really excited to have TCS land finally in Visakhapatnam, and we are looking forward to inviting the other, larger IT players also to come down and set up shop in Visakhapatnam.”
“Visakhapatnam is not just about the land, we have amazing talent that is available, and if we look at it in the IT sector, people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Telugu-speaking people, have a very large role to play. So, we have an amazing talent pool. We have great infrastructure,” he added.
He reiterated the state’s willingness to offer land at subsidized rates to attract companies: “As a state, we are willing to give land at a very subsidised price,” before adding his now-viral statement: “I keep joking that if Goa were to marry Bengaluru and have a child, that would be Visakhapatnam.”
The minister expressed hope that TCS’s entry into Vizag would inspire other IT giants to follow suit and assured that the government is ready to offer similar incentives to those companies as well.
“If you look at one of our promises of creating 20 lakh jobs in the state of Andhra Pradesh, both in the private and the government sector, the cornerstone of that is creating IT jobs. We are not going to leave any stone unturned in terms of attracting investments,” the Minister told CNBC TV18.
While talking about the IT policy laid down by the government for the companies entering the state, the minister said, “The IT policy will have a minimum job creation of 500 jobs per acre of land allocated — that is going to be the thumb rule by which we are going to go.”
He added, “We have very sectoral-specific policies that are already out there, and those policies will drive our incentive packages to the various companies. It is very dependent on the type and quality of jobs that they are going to create in the state of Andhra Pradesh.”
According to the minister, as quoted by the outlet, Reliance Industries is setting up a compressed biogas (CBG) project in the Prakasam district under the state’s Integrated Clean Energy policy, which is expected to set up more than 500 plants.
The minister noted that the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. (APIIC) currently holds nearly one lakh acres of land, and the state is identifying an additional two lakh acres to develop MSME parks in every Assembly constituency.
He also pointed to the state’s partnership with farmers, where land pooling will allow farmers to contribute land for development, with a portion of the developed land being returned to them in the long run. He also said more announcements are expected in the coming weeks as part of his conversations with the leaders at Davos.