(MENAFN- Live Mint) Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh (AP) has been a late starter among Indian states in attracting investments, especially after Telangana was carved out of it in 2014. But it has been punching much above its weight recently, signing a $15-billion investment by Google to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) hub and data centre. Nara Lokesh, the state's minister of human resource development, IT & electronics, and chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's son, spoke about AP's strategy to attract investments, competition among states and his verbal duel with ministers from Karnataka. Edited excerpts:

How well are you doing on the investment front?

It has been an amazing journey. We've been able to so far get close to $120 billion worth of firm commitments in the last 17 months, which is unheard of in the Indian context. But I'm hungry. I want it to be a trillion dollars. I'll sleep well the day when we have a firm commitment of a trillion dollars' worth of investments in Andhra Pradesh.

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It has helped us ground many projects. Historically, the ease of doing business was more on simplifying the regulatory side. Once we shifted our mind towards speed, it was all about how fast we can handhold the project and see it through its entire life cycle. Consider Google. It is a $15-billion project. Just imagine the interest cost if there is a six-month delay. As investment sizes become large, it is important that states run faster. I believe India should run faster.

Speed, now, has become part of our culture and a clear differentiator. At the Partnership Summit, to be held in Visakhapatnam, on 14-15 November, 410 MOUs (memorandums of understanding) will get signed involving investments north of $100 billion, with an employment potential of over 700,000 jobs.

How do you see this competition among states to attract investments?

When states compete India wins, and that's what I truly believe in. States should compete and each of them will have their own competitive advantage. Some will give more incentive and some will offer a better ecosystem. AP is all about speed of doing business. And that's what will make us very unique.

This competition at times leads to a war of words...

Yes (laughs). Use of a certain language triggered it (the war of words between him and Karnataka ministers). What my neighbouring state has done is piss us off with words. There is no need to use those words. We've been very dignified in our approach and we will continue to be. Politically, we will take pot-shots, but will not hit below the belt.

You have been accused of throwing unsustainable incentives to attract investments...

All states offer incentives, whether we give a rupee more a rupee less is the only debate. More than fighting on incentives, our ability to foster relationships and ensure tangible results at record speed are showing. ArcelorMittal investment did not happen merely on incentives. It was our ability to work with them, understand their needs and get things done. We are honest in our relationship. And that's why we're winning. It's very unfair to say that we're giving a lot of incentives. If that is the case, we should not lose investments to other states.

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Yes, we do. The only way for me to get investments, where ecosystem does not exist, is to offer such incentives. Take the IT sector. Without such offers, we would not have been able to get TCS and Cognizant into Andhra Pradesh. They would have been happy to expand in Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Chennai.

Jobs have been another focus area...

Absolutely. The first promise we made in our election manifesto was creating 2 million jobs. We are not just bringing investments into the state. We are actively matching supply and demand of required skill sets and plugging the gaps. We also see jobs and investments as a way to overcome the financial stress the state finds itself in after the bifurcation. We will achieve this under the guidance of our experienced leader and chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. He leads a young team. We are his missiles and he is the GPS ensuring that we achieve our objectives.

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