Telangana sets sights on global AI products and IP, says Chief Secretary Jaju

Telangana is working to move past the adoption of Artificial Intelligence and towards creating AI products, intellectual property and businesses aimed at global markets, Chief Secretary and Special Chief Secretary of the ITE&C and Industries & Commerce Departments, Sanjay Jaju, said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the CII Telangana AI Summit 2026, Mr. Jaju said the State is assembling an ecosystem to support AI innovation, drawing on a strong information technology and Global Capability Centre base. He cited IT exports worth Rs.3.13 lakh crore, close to one million IT professionals, and 515 GCCs that together employ around three lakh people.

The State is targeting five gigawatts of data-centre capacity and intends to offer sovereign AI-grade computing, AI-ready datasets, subsidised GPU access and sandbox tools through the Telangana Data Exchange.

Mr. Jaju said ICAN, the State's AI innovation entity, aims to place Telangana among the world's top 20 AI hubs by 2035. He also pointed to the proposed AI City at Bharat Future City, Young India Skills University, and opportunities in life sciences, banking, financial services and insurance, aerospace, defence, space and semiconductors.

Joint Secretary (ITE&C) Anudeep Durishetty underlined the need to convert individual productivity gains into measurable business outcomes. He flagged human coordination, GCC-led product development and sectoral strengths in aerospace, defence and life sciences as key opportunities.

CII (Telangana) chairman M. Goutham Reddy called for responsible, reliable and human-centric AI adoption, along with stronger skills and greater attention to IP protection.

The summit brought together government, industry and technology stakeholders to discuss AI adoption, digital transformation, talent, innovation and responsible AI, with a focus on building a globally competitive and future-ready AI ecosystem in Telangana. Among the participants were M V Reddy, Senior Vice President and head of Cloud Services at Jio Platforms; Sanjeev Deshpande, Convenor of CII Telangana IT and Chief Strategy Officer at N Labs AI P Ltd; Nilotpal Kumar Dutta, Director and Country Manager at Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Rajan Navani, President of The Indian Digital Gaming Society; and Gaurav Maheshwari, Managing Director of Signode India Ltd.