‘Whatever we do here, rest of India is following’: Nara Lokesh tells IIT alumni Andhra Pradesh will set the pace

Andhra Pradesh does not want to be a state that copies other states' models. It wants to be the model. That was Nara Lokesh's message to the alumni of all 23 IITs at the PanIIT Andhra Pradesh Summit in Vijayawada on Saturday.

"We are an amazing sandbox, test bed, whichever way you would like to look at it. Call us. We are here to make India proud," the state's IT and education minister told founders, investors, researchers, IIT directors and officials at Dr B R Ambedkar Kala Vedika.

"Whatever we do here, rest of India is following, because that is the beauty of competitive federalism."

He offered proof from the summit itself. One of the leaders on the dais, he said, had already taken a call from a neighbouring state asking why PanIIT was meeting in Vijayawada and not there. "Imagine, it's not even been 24 hours since we met. That's the beauty of a great nation. Today, states are actually competing."

'India can do it'

Lokesh argued that India has never had a better shot at becoming a developed nation. The United States and Europe took about 100 years, he said, Dubai 30 and Singapore about 25. "I believe now India is at that cusp where one decade is enough to be a developed nation, and I believe that golden decade belongs to us."

Near the end of the 21-minute speech, he made it personal:

"As a young Indian, I'm sick and tired of talking about other models. I'm sick and tired of talking about other countries. I want to show to the world, I want to show to Indians, that yes, India can do it. And we have a model here, in Amaravati, in Andhra Pradesh."

"If we can create an island of excellence here in Andhra Pradesh, I'm sure rest of India will lap it up," he said, "and that's exactly what our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji wants."

Seasoned software, young hardware

He introduced Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu the way a technologist would. "You have seen version 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, now he's in 4.0. As every operating system, Mr Naidu only gets better as he enters his new term."

What is different this time, he said, is the team behind him: half the legislators and 17 of the 25 ministers are in their first term. "We call ourselves the hardware, he's the software. What you see in Andhra Pradesh is the marriage between seasoned software and young dynamic hardware."

He borrowed a line from an earlier speaker for the alliance with the Centre: "For all of you NaMo means Narendra Modi ji, but in Andhra Pradesh, NaMo means Naidu ji, Modi ji, jodi. Because we have double-engine, bullet-train sarkar in Andhra Pradesh, and that is how we are able to get things done."

Speed, service, stability

The government's method, he said, comes down to three words. The first is speed. "If you look at the pace at which Andhra Pradesh is moving, I think we can redefine speed with the word Andhra Pradesh. Because we are a team in a hurry." Voters gave the government five years, he said, and it has to show results in them. "We are not in the business of simply signing and forgetting it. We are in the business of grounding projects and ensuring that jobs are being created."

The second is service. Promoters of the state's biggest projects, he said, get a personal update from him every Saturday evening or Sunday morning, "because I know that is the time they're free and they're at home".

The third is stability: "Policy should stand the test of time and politics." He gave an example. For the recruitment of 16,000 teachers, his commissioner fed past court cases into an AI system to learn why earlier orders had been stayed, and wrote a government order that stood up to legal scrutiny.

'That is speed'

Lokesh then listed what he called execution, not "things in the air".

• Steel: a 17-million-tonne greenfield plant with the Mittal group. "From my first Zoom call with Aditya Mittal to breaking ground was 17 months, including environmental clearance. That is speed."
• Google: the company wanted clarity on regulation, permanent establishment and tax. The state worked through it with the Union finance, IT and commerce ministers, and Google broke ground in Andhra Pradesh in 13 months.
• Skyroot: a year ago, he said, "no one even heard of Skyroot". The cabinet gave the space start-up 300 acres. "It took me 30 minutes to convince my cabinet colleagues why we should bet on this startup."
• Sagar Defence: the maritime-drone maker needed water frontage at a fishing harbour, and 150 metres was carved out for it. "When they came to us, they were worth 3,000 crores. Today they're worth 23,000 crores. All this in 18 months."

"Andhra Pradesh is hungry. Andhra Pradesh is eager. Andhra Pradesh is willing to be part of your growth story."

23 clusters, one decade

The state is building 23 industrial clusters, from horticulture and aquaculture to medical devices, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, solar ingots and wafers, space, drones and quantum. Lokesh said each should hold a whole supply chain, as with a phone: the camera, glass, casing, battery and accessories made side by side.

"Europe has taken centuries to create clusters. China has taken about three decades. I believe now India can do it in the next one decade, and Andhra Pradesh will show the way," he said. "We are not here to attract investments. We are here to redefine industries."

On renewable energy, he said the state added 4.8 gigawatts of capacity in the last year, putting it third in the country. "I'm not happy. I believe we should be number one." That would mean adding close to 20 gigawatts a year.

What he asked of the IITs

Lokesh made two requests of PanIIT Alumni India, whose network he put at close to five lakh alumni. The first was research for the 23 clusters, not just companies. "Work your Rolodex a little bit more and please do share important contacts. I'll personally reach out to them."

The second was help moving governance "from jugaad to institutionalised speed", towards what he called visible governance and invisible government, which he said AI now makes possible. He also called for a white paper on what he called the cost of democracy to growth, and on how cities can reach an "escape velocity" that lasts beyond any one government.

'Records are only meant to be broken'

He urged delegates to drive through Amaravati before going home. The assembly, secretariat and High Court are being designed by Norman Foster's firm, and the capital will get a greenfield airport on 5,000 acres. "Every 100 days, you'll see Amaravati rising," he said. When an official told him the capital's builders had set a new record the previous month, he said, his reply was: "Records are only meant to be broken."

He ended on a lighter note. He had tried to message delegates personally the night before, he said, but WhatsApp flagged him as a spammer and restricted his account for 24 hours. "I'm one WhatsApp message away for all of you. But let's create history together."

Later, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched the PanIIT Amaravati Council, a venture fund and five QShiva quantum systems. Read our preview: what the PanIIT Andhra Pradesh Summit set out to do.