A number of centrally subsidised manufacturing projects, like semiconductor assembly plants, laptop and mobile manufacturing facilities, could land in Andhra Pradesh, significantly changing the country’s tech production map.
Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who has been the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh for almost 9 years (between 195 and 2004) and then for another 5 years after the bifurcation of the state, is known to be a man invested in technology, and is widely credited for turning Hyderabad into a technology hub.
The Story With Bill Gates
Naidu often recalls the time when he secured a meeting with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the 1990s (when he was CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh). During that interaction, he claims to have convinced the company to set up a development centre in Hyderabad. What happened next was that the software giant opened a centre in the city in 1998, setting the stage for Hyderabad emerging as a key IT hub in India.
How Has The Fortunes Changed For The Telugu Region?
Today, Hyderabad is home to some of the biggest names in technology, including the likes of Google, IBM, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, and Texas Instruments, among others. Focus on tech has been a defining theme of Naidu’s and TDP leadership. In 2019, during his previous stint as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, he signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Adani Group to build data centre parks in and around Visakhapatnam over the next 20 years.
What This Alliance Could Change For Andhra?
Now with its crucial support for the BJP-led NDA, Naidu’s party is believed to be staking a claim for one of its elected MPs to potentially lead the Union IT Ministry. If this comes true, a number of centrally subsidised manufacturing projects, like semiconductor assembly plants, laptop and mobile manufacturing facilities, could land in Andhra Pradesh, significantly changing the country’s tech production map. During the previous BJP-majority government, a number of new projects, particularly in the electronics sector, reportedly went to the state of Gujarat.
Naidu’s ‘Amravati’ Dream Could Also Prosper
With Hyderabad no longer the official joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, TDP could capitalise the opportunity to resolve the financial constraints that have hit the development of Amravati - Mr. Naidu’s dream capital of Andhra Pradesh. Amravati has been central to Naidu’s politics and a subject of stiff tension between TDP and opposition Jagan Mohan’s YSRCP, who had stopped awarding contracts in Amaravati citing irregularities during his tenure. So this could also give the party leverage in the state over its local rival YSRCP.
TDP’s manifesto for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly election offers a glimpse into the direction that the ministry and the manufacturing industry could possibly take. “We will restore the brand AP which has been destroyed for the past five years, attract foreign investments on a large scale and increase the income of the state by setting up industries, and give a big boost to the creation of job and employment opportunities,” TDP manifesto said. The party would surely capitalize on this opportunity to deliver in the state.
Comments