A major step to make Visakha an IT hub

Visakhapatnam, which made a long struggle to transform into an IT hub for over two decades, appears to be set to join the big league with Cognizant launching its operations from a leased building and performing bhoomi puja for its permanent facility in the city on Friday.

Techies here feel that before bifurcation, the focus was Hyderabad-centric and IT and ITES turnover mostly from Visakhapatnam came from BPM sector. Infosys started its operations a few years ago but it is yet to take a policy decision to seek land for establishing a permanent campu by fulfilling the condition on generating employment opportunities. TCS, which was allotted land here along with Cognizant on payment of a token amount, is getting ready to launch its operations from Millennium Tower, provided temporarily to house its premises.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu along with IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh on Friday laid the foundation stone for Cognizant's permanent campus and eight other companies in Visakhapatnam on a single day. Cognizant and eight other companies will invest around Rs 3,740 crore, creating employment opportunities for 41,700 people.

The stone was laid for the construction of new office buildings of eight other companies, including Tech Thammina, Satva Developers, Imaginnovate Tech Solutions India, Fluentgrid Limited, Motherson Technologies, Qorp Technosoft, ACN Healthcare RCM Services, and Nanrel Technologies. These companies, including Cognizant, are set to change the local economy.

The initiative will be a game-changer in putting Visakhapatnam in the global IT map as a prominent IT and tech hub. "We are expecting several big players to make investments here," Lokesh, who played a key role in bringing TCS and Cognizant as well as the $15 billion AI data center by Google to the city, said.

On the facility being established by Fluentgrid at Kapuluppada, he said "this campus will anchor our work in AI-driven grid intelligence, smart metering platforms, digital twins, and sustainable energy technologies. It will also serve as a major hub for nurturing talent. We are committed to creating over 2,000 high-quality jobs here in the coming years, giving young professionals from Andhra Pradesh a platform to contribute to global innovation."

Cognizant has announced the construction of a world-class AI and digital transformation IT campus in three phases. The company will invest Rs 1,583 crore to establish the IT campus in Visakhapatnam, which is expected to provide employment to 8,000 people. Until the first phase is completed, Cognizant will operate temporarily from the Mahati Fintech Building in Rushikonda IT Park, Hill-2. The center will focus on advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Digital Engineering, and Cloud Solutions. TCS will develop a campus in the city with an investment of Rs.1370 crore with the promise to provide 12,000 jobs.

Director of APDTI Network Sreedhar Kosaraju said they are very much excited at the prospects of Visakhapatnam getting transformed into a prominent IT hub with investments being made by Cognizant, TCS, Google and other big players. The city is ideal for further transformation as it has a spectacular view, connectivity and availability of industry-ready graduates from the engineering and management schools located in the area, he stated.