Vizag will become capital in 2 months from now: IT Minister

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh is set to emerge as a new IT destination in the country and Visakhapatnam in particular is going to be developed as a beach IT destination in the world as envisaged by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, said IT minister Gudivada Amarnath said.

Attending as the chief guest at the 'InfinITy Vizag' summit on its concluding day in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, the IT minister elaborated about the plans in place to take Vizag several notches up in the IT sector. With Visakhapatnam to become the capital city of Andhra Pradesh in two months from now, Amarnath reiterated, the City of Destiny stands not only as the ninth richest city in the country but also to become the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh.

With big companies like Infosys and Wipro evincing interest in setting up shop in Vizag, Randstad having started its operation in Visakhapatnam, IBM being interested in coming to the state, a number of MNCs are keen on commencing their operation in the City of Destiny, the IT minister said Visakhapatnam is going to be the next big destination for the state and the country.

However, he said AP could not be compared to the neighbouring state of Telangana that took over three decades to transform into what it is today. "But the newly-carved Andhra Pradesh is still in a budding stage and hence cannot be compared with the neighbouring state," Amarnath reasoned.

Under the continued leadership of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Amarnath said, in the next one or two decades, AP would surface in the top five IT destinations in the country. "We can promise it to the people of Andhra Pradesh by creating the required ecosystem for the same," Amarnath assured.

Further, the IT minister said with an estimated investment of Rs 14,000 crore, Adani Data Centre will come up in Visakhapatnam and the Chief Minister would lay the foundation stone for the same in a couple of weeks.

Even in promoting start-up culture, AP is sure to make big strides in future, the IT ,inister stated. Close to 15,000 digital libraries in the state will be transformed into coworking spaces for the IT employees by spending Rs 500 crore for fiber grid connectivity in panchayats in the next few months, Amarnath explained.

Organised by IT Association of Andhra Pradesh (ITAAP) in association with the information technology, electronics and communications department, AP Innovation Society and Software Technology Parks of India, the day two of the event focused on the need to promote IT industry in AP, the present growth graph, ecosystem available for start-ups, among other topics.

Zero trust strategies with a focus on cyber security, digitisation, road map of analytics and Artificial Intelligence in the industry were discussed by experts. ITAAP state president Sridhar Kosaraju, president designate M Lakshmi, Group CEO of APEITA S Kiran Reddy, among others, participated.