NEED FOR SPEED

NARA LOKESH'S GROWTH PLAYBOOK IS TURNING ANDHRA PRADESH INTO A MAGNET FOR CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS

- BY K. VIJAYA BHASKARA REDDY

When Google announced a $15-billion investment—the largest greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) India has ever received—to set up its global AI hub in Visakhapatnam on October 14, it sent ripples through India's policy and technology circles.

The decision was remarkable not only for its scale, but also for its speed: Google had made its largest global bet in just 13 months.

The investment is neither a one-off bonanza nor a stroke of luck. A recent Bank of Baroda report shows that Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the preeminent investment destination in India, attracting 25.3 per cent of the total investment commitments made during the first three quarters of the financial year 2025-26. Of the ₹26.6 lakh crore investment commitments Indian states have received, Andhra Pradesh alone accounted for ₹6.73 lakh crore.

This signals a quiet transformation under way in Andhra Pradesh following the return of the Telugu Desam Party to power. Once considered a peripheral destination for investments, the state is now securing new investment commitments across IT and ITeS, data centres, semiconductors, electronics, renewable energy and other high-end areas. Its port city Visakhapatnam is emerging as a hub for large IT companies and large-scale AI hubs.

This turnaround in the investment climate is being attributed to Nara Lokesh, the state's IT and human resources development minister, who has positioned what he terms as "Speed of Doing Business" (SDB) as the government's new investment strategy. Breaking away from bureaucratic templates of investment facilitation that were weighed down by red tape and corruption, Lokesh has pushed for faster decision-making and quicker project grounding.

Unlike earlier models that relied on layered approvals and dispersed accountability, SDB seeks to expedite timelines by centralising responsibility and maintaining continuous engagement with investors.