Stakeholders see big future for IT growth in Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam Prominent speakers at the two-day IT and ITES summit named Infinity Vizag, which began on Friday exuded confidence that with thrust on promoting deep tech and startup culture, Andhra Pradesh in general and Visakhapatnam in particular have a promising future ahead in becoming centres for exports for IT and ITES.

The summit is being organised by the IT Association of AP with the support of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and the State Government.

AP had fared very badly in IT exports by accounting for a paltry Rs.1290 crore as against nation's Rs.11.59 lakh crore during last year, according to Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar which led to criticism by many stakeholders in the industry and some of the Opposition parties.

Speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural, Alkesh Kumar Sharma. Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) said deep tech and startups are the future and the Government of India is supporting the innovators starting from ideation to acceleration through mentoring and funding by handholding and commercialisation. He said AP mainly Visakhapatnam will emerge as the next new IT destination because of large talent pool and the efforts by MeitY and AP Innovation Society (APIS) to improve the ecosystem

He said with a projected growth in GDP to reach 20% in the coming years, they are hopeful of become third or fourth largest in promotion of IT and ITEs. He said in the next three years, $1 trillion will be realised from IT, ITES, manufacturing and online solutions through digital platforms. He said deep tech, AI, robotics, VR and AR and IoT are being encouraged under Startup India Mission launched in 2015.

Sharma said India needs to become a product nation with emphasis being laid to promote advanced technologies. Industry 4.0, Web 3.0, autonomous systems and architecture enterprises will be the future as India has developed a startup ecosystem-the third largest in the world worth $341 billion.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesman G.V.L. Narsimha Rao while regretting that IT is non-existent in AP going by its performance in exports, he said instead of going into the blunders committed in the past due to Hyderabad-centric development followed by successive governments in the undivided AP, he called for concerted efforts focusing on promoting IT in Visakhapatnam and other areas so as to decongest growth major hubs like Bangalore.

Stating that there will be 45 lakh jobs in the sector in next four years, he said Visakhapatnam with the support from the Government of India is all set to emerge as an ideal destination for growth of IT drawing inspiration from the success of Silicon Valley. As AP accounts for a large workforce in IT all over the globe, he wanted big players to come and set up projects in AP as part of efforts to encourage reverse migration.

AP unveil new policies

While reiterating commitment to promote deep tech through Navaratnalu and other flagship programmes, Saurabh Gaur, Principal Secretary, IT & Communications Department, AP, said they are in the process of unveiling new policies on cloud, data, semiconductors and drones after introducing separate policies for IT and electronics. He said the Global Investors' Summit being hosted on March 3 and 4 is expected to attract a lot of investment.

He said the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade had recognised that AP has attracted the largest FDI. The State has also secured No. 1 status in Ease of Doing Business for the fourth time in a row. They said the government is committed to make Tirupati an ESDP manufacturing hub, Anantapur as a drone hub and encourage defence and aerospace, green energy, electric vehicles, augmented reality and virtual reality and other fields in a very big way.

B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Founder-Chairman of Cyient Ltd, said 80% of Silicon Valley unicorn companies are funded by immigrants and felt that the pace of absorbing technologies has attained a super-fast speed. At consumers level also the speed is phenomenal as WhatsApp has hit 600 million active users. He predicted a big future for smart manufacturing, space systems and sustainability.

Arvind Kumar, Director General of STPI, said they have been committed to promote IT and ITES exports and popularise new technologies. He said they have expanded all over the country since inception in 1991 with three centres to 63 of which 54 are located in tier-II and III cities to boost IT, ITEs and ESDP exports, generate jobs for locals and foster startups to commercialise software products.

ITAAP State president Sridhar Kosaraju explained about their efforts with the support of State and Central Governments to create a roadmap by strengthening the existing ecosystem. Godavari ITAAP president Krishna Reddy proposed a vote of thanks.