AP’s ‘Speed Culture’ To Drive Growth, Jobs: Lokesh

Education minister N. Lokesh has said Andhra Pradesh is building a “speed of doing business” culture, with faster decision-making, project execution and technology-driven governance emerging as key pillars of the state’s development strategy.

Participating in a fireside chat on ‘Andhra Pradesh-Swarna Andhra@2047: The New Growth Laboratory’, organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India in New Delhi on Thursday, Lokesh said the government was giving the highest priority to grounding projects rather than merely signing MoUs.

“Speed is money, time is money,” he said, adding that the speed-oriented approach was being extended from agriculture and manufacturing to IT and governance.

Lokesh said ministers were being ranked on the speed with which they cleared files, with a similar system being followed in the bureaucracy. The government had also introduced ‘Mana Mitra’ WhatsApp governance, providing nearly 1,000 citizen services through the platform.

The minister said AP was developing 23 specialised clusters covering space, drones, cement, steel, medical devices, pharma, AI, data, horticulture and aquaculture. A vertical-and-horizontal cluster approach was being followed, with skill development, certification, testing and validation systems aligned to industry requirements.

Citing Skyroot and Sagar Defence, he said the cluster-based approach was helping emerging companies scale rapidly. Sagar Defence’s valuation had risen from about `3,000 crore to `23,000 crore within 18 to 24 months.

Lokesh said the government’s target was to ground 80 per cent of the signed projects, adding that faster project execution would translate into earlier tax revenues and economic growth. AP, he said, had set a target of becoming a $2.4 trillion economy by 2047, from its present $200 billion level.

The minister said the government was also pursuing inclusive development through the P-4 model, making people the fourth partner in development. The focus, he said, was not merely on cash support but on providing poor and disadvantaged sections with access to ideas, experience, markets, skills and opportunities.

He said healthy competition among states would benefit the country, as successful initiatives in one state could quickly be adopted elsewhere.

Quantum technology, AI, data centres, rare earths, minerals, biomedical and pharma, he noted, are among the emerging sectors, while Amaravati is being developed as a quantum technology hub.

Efforts, he said, are under way to bring a 150-qubit quantum computer from IBM and build a complete quantum ecosystem. Around 50,000 hotel rooms were being developed in the state, creating opportunities in hospitality as well.

The minister said horticulture and aquaculture were as important as quantum technology. A Horticulture Mission would be launched on October 2, with nearly `1 lakh crore in investments expected in the sector.

He also said the government wanted to develop an Indian School of Agriculture in AP on the lines of the Indian School of Business.

According to Lokesh, poverty can be eradicated within a generation if the state has a stable government for a decade. “Job creation is our top agenda,” he reiterated.