Lokesh pitches Andhra Pradesh as investment hub in Ahmedabad meetings

Andhra Pradesh's Minister for Human Resource Development and Information Technology, Nara Lokesh, held a series of meetings with senior executives of leading industrial groups in Ahmedabad on Friday, inviting them to establish manufacturing, clean-energy, data centre and infrastructure projects in the State.

In his meeting with Torrent Group chairman Samir Mehta, Mr. Lokesh sought the group's participation in renewable energy, pumped-storage and green hydrogen initiatives. He also urged the company to expand its active pharmaceutical ingredient and advanced-intermediate manufacturing capacity in the State's pharmaceutical clusters. Mr. Mehta said Torrent Power was developing 3.96 GW of renewable energy projects and 3 GW of pumped-hydro storage capacity, and was exploring green hydrogen and other clean-energy ventures. The company is targeting 10 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Welspun World (India) Group CEO Nitin Jain was invited to set up a global capability centre in Visakhapatnam and a multi-sector industrial park in Kakinada, covering textile, logistics, ductile iron pipe manufacturing, pipe coating and green ammonia units. Mr. Jain noted that the company already operates 100 MW of solar projects in Kurnool and Kadapa and supplies pipes for the Kakinada-Srikakulam gas pipeline and the Reliance KG-D6 project.

Mr. Lokesh also asked Gokul Agro Resources Chairman and Managing Director Kanubhai J. Thakkar to consider palm oil and soybean oil refineries in Nellore. The company currently runs a 1,400-tonne-per-day edible oil refinery at Krishnapatnam, which began commercial operations in 2024.

Chiripal Group Managing Director Brij Mohan Chiripal was invited to establish a greenfield tyre manufacturing project in Visakhapatnam. The group has manufacturing units in several States and exports textiles, packaging films, solar products and chemicals to more than 52 countries.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres was invited to invest in Visakhapatnam, which the State government is positioning as a data centre hub. Company Vice-President (Strategy and Sustainability) Gautam Jena said ST Telemedia operates data centres with a combined capacity of 400 MW across 10 major cities.

In another meeting, Epack Group Chairman Bhajrang Bothra was invited to set up a prefabricated construction facility in Visakhapatnam to serve data centre projects. Mr. Bothra said the group already operates manufacturing and prefabricated building-component facilities at Sri City and Mambattu.

Mr. Lokesh also invited Astral Pipes Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) Alkesh Panchal to establish a pipe manufacturing facility in Kakinada or Anakapalli, assuring speedy clearances and incentives. Mr. Panchal said Astral Pipes has 13 plumbing plants across several States and would examine the State government's proposal.