Representing the state of Telangana, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao met Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in Davos at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. The minister discussed Google's current operations in Hyderabad and the scope for future expansion.
Speaking to TNM on his meeting with Pichai, KTR said that he invited Pichai to visit Hyderabad and break ground for the second largest Google campus outside of the US. “He said he will of course, but dates are to be finalised,” the minister told TNM.
Had a brief meeting with @sundarpichai today. Invited him to break ground for @Google campus in Hyderabad
— KTR (@KTRTRS) January 22, 2020
Fascinating to hear him speak about emerging technologies such as AI that will change the way we view the world in times to come pic.twitter.com/DJmRC9Tm9X
In 2015, Telangana signed an MoU with Google to set up an over-7-acre campus in Hyderabad, which will be its second largest campus outside of the US. At the time of the announcement, KTR had said that Google will be investing Rs 1000 crore for this campus that is expected to create over 6000 jobs.
This comes close on the heels of Amazon opening its largest office campus in the world in Hyderabad last year, spread over an area of 9.5 acres in Nanakramguda, in the IT hub of Hyderabad.
Apart from Pichai, KTR held a series of bilateral meetings with global industry leaders at the Telangana Pavilion on the sidelines of the summit.
He met with Rockwell Automation CEO and President Blake D Moret. Rockwell Automation is the largest company in the world that is dedicated to industrial automation and information and has a history of over 100 years.
Pitching Telangana as the pharma and life sciences capital of the country, KTR also met Takeda Pharma Global Vaccine Business Unit President Rajeev Venkayya and gave him an overview of Hyderabad’s Pharma City.
A statement from KTR’s office said that he also met with other business leaders including IDEO CEO Sandy Speicher, HCL Technologies CTO Kalyan Kumar, Mahindra and Mahindra’s Managing Director Pawan K Goenka, KPMG Global Chairman and CEO Bill Thomas and BAE Systems Chairman Sir Roger Carr.
KTR with BAE Systems Chairman Sir Roger Carr.
KTR was also part of the CEO Summit Panel Discussion at the India Investment Summit co-hosted by CNBC TV 18 and CII.
Pitching Telangana to the world, KTR said that it is ranked as the topmost state in terms of ease of doing business. He also said that the top five most valued tech companies in the world have their second largest base outside HQ in Hyderabad. This includes Apple, Google Amazon and Facebook. “In fact, Amazon has its largest office in the world in Hyderabad. And I’m not talking just IT & ITeS. It’s 2020, I’m talking emerging tech, some of coolest stuff in the technology world is happening in Hyderabad,” he added.
Elevator pitch for Telangana and Hyderabad https://t.co/NtIZp3SJ4t
— KTR (@KTRTRS) January 22, 2020
Speaking to CNBC TV18, he added that India needs to make bold moves with respect to spending on infrastructure and provide more capital to states. “The stronger the states, stronger the spend, better the country. India needs to compete in scale. In Telangana we are working on the world’s largest pharma cluster in about 13 thousand acres, we launched largest textile park. If we want to compete with Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia and China, India needs to leverage its scale. Right now we don’t have a policy for mega textile parks, mega industrial parks, which Govt of India needs to bring in quickly,” he said.
“We need to start lowering the cost of doing business in India for existing industrial houses, and we need to improve the quality of doing business in India. Unless this happens, Ease of doing business cannot propel us into bigger league,” KTR added.