Naidu’s Leadership, Speed of Doing Business Help AP Excel: Lokesh
Nara Lokesh noted that AP would become one of the major attractions for huge foreign direct investments in the green steel sector.
Vijayawada: Education Minister Nara Lokesh has said “able leadership and speed of doing business” helped Andhra Pradesh make a mark at the global level.
He was attending the India Conference-2026 in Mumbai on Monday, with the theme ‘Readying India for Future-The Andhra Pradesh Experience’. The event was under the aegis of Bank of America.
In a fireside chat in Mumbai, Lokesh credited Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu with efforts for the fast-paced development of Andhra Pradesh, saying the CM was well-experienced in developing cities and creating suitable ecosystems.
He said that the concept of ‘Speed of Doing Business’ being adopted in AP helped to bring Google AI Data Centre to Visakhapatnam while the ArcelorMittal project was started in just 17 months.
The minister noted that AP would become one of the major attractions for huge foreign direct investments in the green steel sector. The ‘double engine bullet train’ government in AP, with support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was attracting huge investments in the data centre.
Lokesh said that the CM targeted to develop a 6.5 giga watts capacity multi-giga watt digital hub in the state. Google stood first in the row as it had come forward to set up the data centre in 13 months, he said, and noted that the setting up of cable stations in Visakhapatnam would help develop AI and IT ecosystems.
He underlined the importance of MSMEs which would provide employment opportunities at the micro level. Given two divergent opinions on setting up data centres in AP -- with some people saying it would be good while others are opposing it -- Lokesh explained about how the 6.5 giga watts data centres would consume “just one time of water” while one giga watt capacity thermal power plant could consume seven times more water than one giga watt data centre.
He felt the need for more attention to improving quality in the research by using AI and felt the need to change the curriculum in sync with the emerging technologies like AI, machine learning and quantum technologies.
