Lokesh Woos Global Firms with Manufacturing, GCC Proposals in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh is on a mission to attract global companies to set up manufacturing units, engineering centers, and global capability centers (GCCs) in the state. In a series of meetings in New Delhi, Lokesh pitched the state's advantages to top executives from Vivo, Cisco, Abbott, Mastercard, and SAP.
Lokesh met with Vivo India President Arjit Sen and urged the company to explore setting up a mobile components manufacturing facility in Tirupati. Sen agreed to discuss the proposal with senior management.
Lokesh also made a broader data-center ecosystem pitch to Cisco India MD Harish Krishnan, inviting the company to establish an engineering center or GCC in Visakhapatnam. Lokesh wants the entire value chain of data centers to come to AP and is seeking manufacturing facilities for UCS servers, switches, and routers.
Lokesh's meetings with Abbott MD Ishteyaque Amjad and Mastercard focused on setting up medical devices and diagnostics manufacturing facilities in AMTZ/EMCs, generic drugs manufacturing units, and technology centers. He also invited Yara International to establish a green ammonia manufacturing and export complex in Kakinada.
Lokesh emphasized that AP is shifting its focus from signing MoUs to grounding projects, with an 80% grounding target. The state is developing sector-specific clusters ranging from space and drones to horticulture and aquaculture.