calender_icon.png 7 October, 2025 | 2:23 AM

Wooing global giants for tech, renewables & real estate

07-10-2025 12:00:00 AM

Andhra Pradesh IT, Electronics and Education Minister Nara Lokesh made a high-powered investment pitch in Mumbai on Monday, meeting global and Indian industry leaders across commodities, infrastructure, technology, manufacturing and real estate. His agenda is to attract large-scale investments, expand job opportunities for AP’s youth, and position the state as India’s emerging industrial hub.

Lokesh met Trafigura India CEO Sachin Gupta, urging the $243-billion commodities major to strengthen its AP operations. Trafigura, which signed a $1.4-billion LNG supply deal with IOC earlier this year, currently exports coal, zinc and aluminium through Visakhapatnam port. Lokesh proposed investments in cold storage and warehousing at Vizag and Kakinada ports, LNG regasification terminals, and a commodity trading desk in Vizag, noting AP’s scale in rice and shrimp exports.

At a meeting with ESR Group leaders, Lokesh highlighted AP’s newly approved Plug-and-Play Industrial Parks Policy 4.0. He invited the Asia-Pacific logistics and real estate giant to co-develop mega industrial parks along the Vizag-Kakinada-Tirupati belt and set up multimodal logistics hubs at Vizag and Kakinada. Cold-chain infrastructure and port-based warehousing for exports were also discussed.

In a wide-ranging dialogue with Tata Group Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and top CEOs, Lokesh sought Tata Power’s support for a statewide EV charging network and rooftop solar projects. He invited Tata Elxsi to set up a regional centre in Visakhapatnam, 

Tata AutoComp to establish EV component plants in Sri City, and Tata Advanced Systems to explore aerospace and defence manufacturing in AP. He also pitched opportunities in semiconductor-linked OSAT facilities, soda-ash production under Tata Chemicals, and an AI-ready data centre campus with ST Telemedia in Visakhapatnam.

Lokesh urged Rustomjee Group Chairman Boman Irani to develop a luxury township in Visakhapatnam, which is witnessing rapid IT and data-centre growth. In talks with Raheja Group President Neel Raheja, he pitched a 100-150-acre Mindspace Business Park in Vizag, a hyperscale data centre campus, five-star hotels in Amaravati, beach resorts and retail expansions, alongside premium housing projects.

Lokesh revived a 2019 plan for an HP 3D Printing Centre of Excellence in AP, offering immediate facilitation under the state’s Electronics Manufacturing Policy 4.0. He proposed an HP assembly plant for PCs and laptops in Tirupati, plus a supply-chain cluster with Foxconn and Quanta. With Blue Star CMD Vir Advani, Lokesh pushed for faster completion of its ₹900-crore Sri City expansion and urged the company to establish its first South India R&D centre in AP, alongside collaboration on data-centre cooling solutions.

Later in the evening, Lokesh had addressed the 30th CII Partnership Summit roadshow in Mumbai to showcase AP’s policies and extend invitations to global leaders for the main summit in Visakhapatnam this November.

“Ports, renewables, technology and logistics are Andhra Pradesh’s natural strengths. We are ready to provide land, infrastructure and incentives for world-class projects. Our focus is simple-investments that generate jobs and transform AP into a national growth hub,” Lokesh told industry leaders.