Vijayawada, Nov 1 (Representative) Andhra Pradesh is getting transformed into a cloud infrastructure hub and the state is focusing on setting up data centres in Visakhapatnam, Minister for IT and Electronics Nara Lokesh said and asked the Google Cloud CEO to establish its data center in the port city. As part of his mission to attract investments during his ongoing visit to the United States, Lokesh visited the Google campus in San Francisco where he had a prolonged meeting with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian, its global networking vice-president, Bikas Koley, the vice-president of its business applications, Rao Surapuneni, and vice-president of Google Maps, Chandu Thota. The Minister asked all these top echelons of Google to consider setting up of a data center in Visakhapatnam under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. “Under the visionary leadership of the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the State Government is implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based e-governance and is implementing programmes like smart city. Also, Andhra Pradesh is the right place for investments,” Lokesh told the Google top bosses and asked them to consider providing services like AI tools and enterprise solutions to help digitalise government services for better public services. He also sought the cooperation of Google with the state government in real time management, disaster response and urban planning besides interlinking the smart cities with Google Maps which are part of Geospatial services. The Minister also wanted Google to hold AI-based training classes to the youth on digital education and for their skill development. Responding to Lokesh’s proposals, the Google top echelons said that they will soon take a decision after holding discussions with their colleagues.
They said that their organisation got global recognition in online services like cloud-computing and digital advertising. The Minister told the Indian diaspora and US-India Business Council representatives that this is the right time to invest in the State. The State Government is following investor-friendly policies and the State has a long seacoast along a wide highway network besides having transport facilities through sea and by air, Lokesh said that this is the most favourable time for anyone to invest in the State. Andhra Pradesh is moving towards rapid development under the able leadership of the Chief Minister, he said, adding that very soon the State is getting transformed into a start-up and manufacturing hub. “We are developing an ecosystem for industrial growth and we have already revived the Economic Development Board to see to it that there is no delay in according permissions for setting up industries,” the Minister told the Indian diaspora and US-India Business Council delegates in San Francisco. As part of decentralising development, Anantapur is being encouraged for setting up automobile units, renewable energy in Kurnool, IT, pharma and medical equipment manufacturing units in Visakhapatnam and Prakasam district is promoted as biofuel manufacturing centre while aqua industry in both the Godavari districts, he said. Observing that the construction works will soon resume in the capital city of Amaravati with the latest technology, Lokesh said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) university will soon be established to produce experts with international standards. He aked them to come forward to invest in the State where they have a very favourable atmosphere. The founder of the India diaspora, Rangaswamy, the executive members of US-India Business Council Kavitha Mariyappan, Siva Sivaram, Ramakanth Alapati and several others were present at the meeting.