VISAKHAPATNAM: Google has joined hands with the Andhra Pradesh government to provide technology support for the ‘Digital AP’ initiative, on the lines of ‘Digital India’ initiative of the central government. Google India managing director Rajan Anandan signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government in the presence of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the CEOs’ Conclave of Information Technology (IT) companies in the city Monday.
Another four companies including Tech Mahindra and Wipro signed the MoUs with the state government for investing over `730 crore and are envisaged to create more than 13,000 jobs in the next 3-4 years.
Under the MoU, Google and the AP government will work together for increasing the presence of Telugu on the internet. Rajan Anandan said that Google aims to develop Telugu applications including developing an Android-based operating system for smart phones. The internet giant will partner with academic institutions to create quality content in Telugu for the internet apart from helping official Telugu media like newspapers and magazines to get onto the world wide web, making Telugu internet a reality.
According to the officials, Google will also help women entrepreneurs including self-help group women get online in the next three years. Besides, efforts will be made to ensure that at least 15 per cent of the existing 10 lakh small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in AP have their presence online in the next five years, which is expected to boost the SME sales by 50 per cent.
“In view of the smart phone market, all the government websites and services will be made mobile-competent for increased usage,” Rajan Anandan said. The state government also signed MoUs with various IT companies for setting up their facilities in and around Visakhapatnam including an MoU with Tech Mahindra for expanding its facility over 10 acres, which is expected to provide 5,000 jobs. Another MoU was signed with Wipro to accord SEZ status to its existing campus in the city centre, allowing it to provide employment to 7,000 techies.
Under another agreement, the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER), an autonomous research lab under the Department of Electronics and IT in the Ministry of Communications and IT, was allotted 13 acres at Gambheeram IT SEZ to set up a research and development centre. Tessolve, a semi-conductor industry, also evinced interest in signing an MoU to invest `250 crore and provide 1,200 jobs by establishing a facility in Visakhapatnam. IT companies like Intense and CoMakeIT decided to start development centres in the city.
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