Lokesh meets heads of top companies, seeks investments in Andhra Pradesh

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IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh met Harish Krishnan, Managing Director (India & South East Asia) of Cisco Systems (U.S.A.), in New Delhi on Thursday and requested him to set up a manufacturing unit for unified computing system servers, switches, and routers in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) along with an Engineering Center / Global Capability Centre (GCC) in Visakhapatnam.

Mr. Krishnan recalled that an agreement was signed with the A.P. government last year for training 50,000 youth in the Cisco Networking Academy and other high-skill areas and that the program was under way. He also noted Cisco's involvement in the Visakhapatnam Innovation Center, Tirupati Centre of Excellence, Vijayawada Smart City Project, and AP FiberNet and said fresh proposals would be considered.

In a meeting with Arijit Sen, President of Vivo India and Chairman of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) Global Council, on the sidelines of a fireside chat organised by the PAFI, Mr. Lokesh invited him to explore the possibility of setting up a mobile component manufacturing unit in Tirupati and developing a Components Manufacturing Park for its suppliers.

Mr. Lokesh called on Abbott (U.S.A.) MD Ishteyaque Amjad and appealed to him to set up a medical devices / diagnostics manufacturing unit in one of the AP MedTech Zone / electronics manufacturing clusters in the State. He also proposed the establishment of a generic drug manufacturing unit in the upcoming bulk drug park at Nakkapalli and Abbott GCC in Visakhapatnam.

Mr. Amjad expressed interest in investing in nutrition and pharmaceutical manufacturing and said he would examine the A.P. government's proposals.

The Minister met Mastercard Inc. Vice-President Abhishek Lahiri and asked him to establish a GCC / Technology Center in Visakhapatnam and to join as a fintech advisory member in the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH) to mentor and promote startups.

Mr. Lahiri stated that Mastercard had signed an MoU with the AP Tourism Authority for promoting Dindi, Tirupati, Suryalanka, and Araku/Vizag via the global ‘Priceless’ platform, and added that the company would discuss the A.P. government's proposals with its senior leadership team.

Later, Mr. Lokesh met Lovneesh Chanana, Senior Vice-President of SAP (Germany), Rakesh Swami, President of Godrej Industries Group, and Vaishali Chopra, Public Affairs & Communications Head of Yara International ASA (Norway), a leading crop nutrition, fertilizers, and ammonia manufacturing company.

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