Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh attributed the establishment of Google’s AI Data Centre in Visakhapatnam to a collective effort between the State and Union Governments. Minister Lokesh stated that the State Government enacted several legislative amendments to facilitate this investment, while the Centre was reportedly considering tax incentives for investors. He claimed the state had become ‘most investment-ready’ within 17 months under the combined leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Lokesh detailed how Google executives first visited Visakhapatnam in September 2024 to identify potential sites, noting the involvement of Chief Minister Naidu, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Union IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in working with the Prime Minister to enable the necessary amendments. The Minister expressed a vision for Google’s presence to transform Visakhapatnam, drawing parallels to Microsoft’s impact on Hyderabad and projecting a more rapid transformation for Visakhapatnam within a decade. He also articulated the government’s broader objective of achieving a $1 trillion economy. Furthermore, Lokesh criticized the previous government, asserting that its inefficiency led to increased power tariffs, citing the alleged scrapping of a 1,000 MW thermal project in Visakhapatnam which he claimed forced the State to procure power at ₹18 per unit.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/collective-effort-between-state-centre-brought-google-to-andhra-pradesh-nara-lokesh/article70166316.ece