Lokesh Seeks Microsoft’s Help for Digital Governance in AP

Vijayawada: IT and electronics minister Nara Lokesh sought active cooperation from Microsoft chief executive officer (CEO) Satya Nadella for bringing in digital governance in Andhra Pradesh.

Lokesh is visiting the United States and has been meeting heads of several noted IT companies. As part of his mission, he met the Microsoft CEO at the company’s headquarters in Redmond in Washington state.

The IT minister extended an invitation to Satya Nadella to visit Andhra Pradesh. Nadella has links with the state, as his father had served AP as an IAS officer in various positions.

Lokesh appreciated that after Nadella assumed the top position as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, the company has become a global leader in software, cloud computing and enterprise technology, with a market cap of $3.1 trillion and earning a record profit of $211.9 million in 2023.

The minister pointed out that Hyderabad had turned into an IT hub under the visionary leadership of N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of combined Andhra Pradesh. Lokesh maintained said Naidu has assumed the Chief Ministership of AP for the fourth term, with plans to transform Andhra Pradesh as the IT capital.

"As part of this programme, we are setting up new IT hubs and innovation parks. We seek active cooperation of Microsoft to make our IT hubs compete at the global level," Lokesh underlined.

Expressing the hope that Andhra Pradesh will soon turn into a regional centre for global institutes in cloud infrastructure and data centres, the minister said the state has all the required facilities and opportunities, including the best-talented youth in IT and engineering. He sought Satya Nadella’s cooperation in this regard.

Lokesh said if artificial intelligence (AI) is interlinked to farming, the state, which is the backbone of the country in farming, will certainly witness radical reforms in this sector. He sought Microsoft’s help in turning Amaravati into the AI capital.

"We are going to establish an AI University in Amaravati as part of this programme," the minister emphasised.

Satya Nadella promised to extend all possible cooperation for promoting Andhra Pradesh as AI capital and in digital governance.

State representatives Kartikeya Mishra and Saikanth Varma were present during the visit of Microsoft.