Just a few months after selling 21 acres of land to India’s largest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), for 99 paise each, the Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh has finalized a similar agreement with Cognizant, which is based in Teaneck, New Jersey. Cognizant has committed to an investment of ₹1,582 crore over the next eight years to establish an IT campus that will create 8,000 jobs in the coastal city of Vishakapatnam, approximately 600 kilometres from Hyderabad and 800 kilometres from Chennai, which are among India’s major software hubs alongside Bengaluru.
In April of this year, following the land sale to TCS, the state’s technology minister,
Nara Lokesh, mentioned to CNBC-TV18 that his goal is to transform Vishakapatnam into a new center for IT investments. “I often joke that if Goa were to marry Bangalore and have a child, it would be Visakhapatnam. We have everything, and we believe this could be the catalyst for attracting more investments to Visakhapatnam,” he remarked during the interview.
Cognizant aims to commence commercial operations in Vishakapatnam by March 2029.
