Visakhapatnam: While the state government aims to generate business worth $2 billion in the IT sector and $5 billion in the electronics sector, Monday’s IT CEO conclave saw a flurry of memorandum of understandings being signed, including those with information technology giants Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Union government electronics lab, SAMEER, to provide employment to around 17,840 people and investments worth Rs 950 crore in Vizag.
Nearly 17 IT and electronic manufacturing companies signed MoUs. Tech Mahindra plans to invest Rs 250 crore and has promised to provide employment to 5,000 people. Wipro will invest Rs150 crore with employment to 7,000 people, Tessolve, a semi-conductor testing company, will invest Rs 250 cr and provide employment to 1,200 people.
The state IT and communications department and the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation have provisionally allotted land to all the companies. Representatives of 150 companies from various parts of the country, including 10 from the US, took part in the CEOs conclave.
The government launched three policies christened, 'Triad of Policies'- IT policy, Electronics policy and Innovation & Start-up policy. Interestingly, all the three policies were given to the guests on a pen drive instead of paper.
NASSCOM vice chairman, founder and chairman of Cyient, formerly Infotech, B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said that he would encourage his members to consider Vizag for investment. He added that Vizag with its cosmopolitan flavour due to the presence of PSUs, Navy, NSTL, has the potential to become a mega metropolitan city. He pointed that the scenic stretch along the 25km Beach Road to Bheemili, with its social infrastructure like five-star hotels, corporate hospitals, pubs, colleges, universities and air connectivity, are aspects in favour of Vizag to make it a mega IT hub. He assured all help from NASSCOM in this endeavour.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launched various e-governance initiatives of the state government like Core CM Dash Board, e-Permit system for mines and geology department, mobile Mee Seva, portals for all districts and videos of IT sectors in AP. Other companies that signed MoUs to setup operations in Vijayawada plan to invest crores and provide employment to hundreds of people.
