Creating quantum computing ecosystem is next big thing: Nara Lokesh

The Andhra Pradesh government will sign a pact with Google to set up a one gigawatt hyperscale data centre campus in Visakhapatnam, anchoring the $10 billion 'AI City Vizag' project

The Andhra Pradesh government will sign an agreement with Google on Tuesday to develop a 1 gigawatt (Gw) hyperscale data-centre campus in Visakhapatnam. In an interview in New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh Industries Minister Nara Lokesh talks to Archis Mohan about his plans and projects for the state and how the state government has dealt with American tariffs. Edited excerpts:

 

 

How do you see the artificial-intelligence (AI) ecosystem coming up in Andhra Pradesh? 

 

 

N Chandrababu Naidu (chief minister) has always looked at creating his own niche in the way to project a state. As you know, Hyderabad was a beneficiary of the Y2K era, and we piggybacked on that revolution, and that is what made Hyderabad what it is today. One always needs a springboard, which is what we are doing by carving out a niche with data centres. And it is not just data centres but about getting edge computing, getting the sea landing station, and the cable landing stations, and then quantum computing is the next big thing. We are clear on which part of the state will focus on which technology, and then how do you build the ecosystem around it and the cluster approach that we have taken.

 

 

You are known to reach out, including on social media, to businesses in Karnataka to relocate to Andhra Pradesh. What are your views on competitive federalism? 

 

 

When states compete, India wins — that has always been our position. We have great infrastructure. We are building an ecosystem. The chief minister always believed in competition. This is not the first time that Andhra Pradesh is competing with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, or other states.

 

 

You have spoken about the “speed of doing business” often.

 

We create a WhatsApp group in which the chairperson of the company concerned and I, as minister, are part of that WhatsApp group and my chief of staff updates details of the project undertaken on a weekly basis. The project manager of the company also updates details, and if I don’t get an update for about 10 days, I sent them a reminder, asking them for an update, enquiring whether they are stuck or if there are problems.

 

 

How been the Centre’s support since June last year, when the third Narendra Modi government was formed? 

 

 

It’s been a symbiotic relationship. Andhra Pradesh has leaned on the central government for support for promises made in the bifurcation Bill. But even the central government is looking for states that will lead things from the front. One is the speed of business reforms, in the case of which a lot of things happen at state level. I got a call from a Union minister who said that he had a meeting with the Prime Minister and his direction was “please talk to Andhra, they will move fast”. This was around labour reforms. As we like to say, while elsewhere in the country the conversation is around “double engine governments”, in Andhra Pradesh it is a “double engine bullet train”.

 

Another example of the Centre’s help has been the data centre policy. There are specific requirements for the hyperscalers around retrospective taxation. We had to talk to a few ministries.  We did that as a political establishment. The policies or the understanding is not just for Andhra Pradesh, it is for India. But then in the whole process, because Andhra Pradesh led that conversation, we have the first-mover advantage and that is the relationship that Andhra Pradesh today has with the central government. I go back to saying that we are a double-engine bullet train because the central government wants to move fast, and so does the state. 

 

What are your leadership ambitions three and half years later, when you face the next Assembly elections? 

 

 

When we go to the election cycle, if people recognise that I’m the chief job creator in Andhra Pradesh, my job is well done. That is the single agenda with which I’m working. I am the chair of the group of ministers to create two million jobs. It is not just about hi tech or blue-collar jobs. Even agriculture is important. At a meeting of the State Investment Promotion Board, the secretary in charge of food processing said 90 per cent of mushrooms grown globally were produced in China. For me as a minister, it was a light bulb moment. Within 12 hours we had a three-page note and sought time from the chief minister, who read the note and green-lit the project. We call it “Mushroom Mission”, and now we want Andhra Pradesh to be a mushroom hub.

 

 

Andhra Pradesh has been one of the states worst hit by tariffs imposed by the United States (US). How do you tackle that? 

 

 

I believe the Prime Minister will be able to tide over these challenges. But as a state, we are working on it. I met those running hatcheries because shrimp and aqua produce in India faces a 50 per cent tariff while Ecuador has 16 per cent. I met feed suppliers, farmers, and processors. We have provided cheaper power to farmers, reduced the cost of the feed, realigned our supply chain, and explored new markets. We have sent supplies, for example, to Ukraine.

 

 

The Andhra Pradesh government has focused on renewable energy. How is it going? 

 

 

If India has to grow in double digits, having a low cost of energy will be critical and solar fits well into that. However, as a state, we need to manage it because daytime power rates have almost crashed and it’s some 50 paise or a rupee. We are enabling people to build these solar plants and wind plants. But we are not doing any power-purchase agreements at this juncture. We are also pushing pump-storage projects because these are long-term strategic projects that are going to be critical when you have the data centres going. We are one of the very few states, if not the first, to reduce power tariffs by 13 paise. All this because we cut out the inefficiencies and I believe a lot more can be done in the energy sector. And that’s where, again, renewable energy plays an important role.

 

 

The chief minister and you have visited Singapore and also attended the World Economic Forum at Davos. What came out of those? 

 

 

Davos is a place where you connect with people. You start a conversation or you follow up on conversations. As a state we have never believed in signing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in Davos. It is not the platform to sign MOUs.  These are places where you have conversations. Our conversation with ArcelorMittal and Google happened there, which fructified and then resulted in tangible investment. As a state we are not excited about signing MoUs. We are excited about grounding projects. On record, we don’t have an MoU with ArcelorMittal. We are razor-sharp and focused on execution, which is grounding the project and we’re going to ground the ArcelorMittal project in November.