Andhra Pradesh means business, come and experience, Nara Lokesh calls upon entrepreneurs 

“Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is a ‘start-up State’ that is ‘hungry for business’ and committed to delivering its promises with Speed-of-Doing Business (SoDB) as the driving force,” IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh said, adding that investments amounting to $120 billion were brought in the last 15 months. 

He was participating in a Q&A session organised by Andhra Pradesh-United Kingdom Business Forum in London late Tuesday night (September 16, 2025) and anchored by Tech Mahindra President (European Business) Harshul Asnani.

“No other State could clinch such mega deals as the steel plant being set up by ArcelorMittal-Nippon Steel (in Anakapalli district) and the clutch of IT sector behemoths such as Google and home-grown TCS  making a beeline to Visakhapatnam in a few days,” he said.

“This was made possible by the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s leadership and the perseverance with which investments were being attracted into diverse sectors,” said IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh. 

Mr. Lokesh said Andhra Pradesh was the only State talking about SoDB and the impressive results achieved by it were quite evident from AM-NS steel plant, the foray of TCS into Visakhapatnam, a big investment from LG Electronics that was in the pipeline and the RIL’ Compress Bio-Gas (CBG) plants among a host of other projects. 

A 1-Gigawatt data centre was coming up in Visakhapatnam, an automotive ecosystem was built around the Kia Motors’ manufacturing facility located in Anantapur district and many other projects were being pursued with a lot of rigour and energy. 

Mr. Lokesh said the State Government allotted land for TCS in Visakhapatnam for an unbelievable 99 paise per acre. Under the Land Incentive for Tech Hub (LIFT) Policy, the first hundred companies in certain categories would be given land at the same rockbottom rate of 99 paise/acre. 

“The government was giving 80,000 acres of barren land on lease to RIL for growing Napier grass for using it as a raw material to produce CBG,” he said.

The Minister further said A.P. was leading India’s Quantum Technology revolution by developing a Quantum Valley in Amaravati, and a Space City was being created in Tirupati district with Skyroot Aerospace as the anchor (it was given 300 acres). 

Emphasis was duly laid on next-gen manufacturing, which was the brick and mortar part of the economy now, and as the tariffs on exports kicked in, the State Government was looking towards the diversification of markets as a solution to what appears to be a persistent problem. 

“As we are also humans, three out of ten decisions might go wrong but we are willing to listen and make the necessary course corrections. Once the hands are shaken, a project becomes ours,” Mr. Lokesh asserted, calling upon the prospective entrepreneurs to explore the distinct advantages offered by A.P.