Lokesh Pitches AP As Hub For Electronics, Tech, Pharma And Green Industries

Education and IT minister N. Lokesh held a series of meetings with senior executives of global companies in New Delhi on Thursday, pitching Andhra Pradesh as a destination for investments in electronics manufacturing, technology, healthcare, agriculture and green energy.

In a meeting with Vivo India president Arjit Sen, Lokesh sought a mobile-components manufacturing facility in Tirupati and proposed a dedicated components manufacturing park for Vivo’s suppliers. He also suggested a supply-chain meeting involving the company and its vendor ecosystem.

Sen said Vivo manufactures 154.2 million mobile units annually and that more than 99 per cent of the phones sold in India, including motherboards, batteries and chargers, are manufactured at Greater Noida. He said the proposals would be discussed with the company’s senior team.

Cisco India and South-East Asia MD Harish Krishnan met Lokesh, who sought a manufacturing facility for unified computing system (UCS) servers, switches and routers in AP and an engineering centre or global capability centre (GCC) in Visakhapatnam.

Krishnan said Cisco had more than 16,000 employees in India, including over 8,000 engineers, and more than 1,000 patents. The company has partnered with AP to skill 50,000 youth through NetAcad and other programmes.

Lokesh also invited Abbott India MD Isteayak Anjad to establish a medical devices or diagnostics unit at an AMTZ/EMC location and a generic medicines facility at the upcoming bulk drug park at Nakkapalli. He also sought a global capability centre in Visakhapatnam.

In talks with Mastercard vice-president Abhishek Lahiri, Lokesh sought a GCC or technology centre in Visakhapatnam and invited the company to join the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub as a fintech advisory member. He also sought its participation in skill development and P4 programmes.

Nara Lokesh with Mastercard vice-president Abhishek Lahiri during a meeting in New Delhi.

Mastercard said it had signed an MoU with the AP Tourism Authority to promote Dindi, Tirupati, Suryalanka and Araku/Visakhapatnam through its global “Priceless” platform.

SAP senior vice-president Lavnish Chanana was urged to establish a Digital Governance Centre of Excellence in AP for smart governance, SME digitisation and skill development.

Lokesh also sought its collaboration with AP Technology Services for SAP training and certification for students.

Godrej Industries Group president Rakesh Swamy was invited to establish an agro-chemical unit through Aztech LifeSciences, ready-to-eat dairy processing plants and expand oil-palm processing and Samadhan centres through Godrej Agrovet.

Swamy said Godrej Agrovet had signed a `70-crore worth MoU in November last year for oil-palm processing and Samadhan centres in AP. He said a `210-crore worth confectionery and cocoa-butter substitute manufacturing unit was being established in Dwaraka Tirumala mandal.

Lokesh also invited Yara International ASA public affairs and communications head Vaishali Chopra to establish a green-ammonia manufacturing and export complex in Kakinada, besides a fertilizer-blending and micronutrients plant. He proposed a crop-nutrition technology and digital agriculture centre in collaboration with Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University.

Representatives of the companies said their senior teams would examine the proposals made by the AP government.