Amaravati, Oct 27 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government has constituted the Data Centre Advisory Council as the state’s empowered forum to guide policy, infrastructure and investment decisions towards a 6,000 MW data centre capacity target by 2030, positioning Visakhapatnam as the flagship destination in India for AI‑era digital infrastructure.

Information Technology, Electronics and Communications Department issued a Government Order on Monday, constituting the Council.

The Council’s formation builds on the Andhra Pradesh Data Centre Policy 4.0 and is calibrated to translate marquee announcements – including Google’s 1 GW and Sify Infinity’s 550 MW – into accelerated, on‑ground capacity, high‑quality jobs, and global investor confidence for Vizag and the wider state.

Chaired by Minister for Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) Nara Lokesh, the Council is mandated to advise the government on a comprehensive, time‑bound roadmap covering power and renewable integration, high‑capacity fibre connectivity, dedicated DC parks and plug‑and‑play campuses, streamlined clearances, and real‑estate norms tailored to hyperscale timelines, alongside talent pipelines, cyber resilience and global outreach to meet the 2030 goal.

In addition to guiding strategic branding for Vizag and Andhra Pradesh, the Council will institute a continuous policy‑feedback loop to refine Data Centre Policy 4.0 for speed, competitiveness and investor certainty as projects move from MoUs to construction and operations, the Government Order said.

The Council brings together leadership from hyperscale cloud, global data centre operators, real‑estate and advisory firms, state data centre operators, technology enablers, industry bodies and academia to align execution with industry needs and international best practice under a single, empowered platform.

The Council will have representation from Microsoft Azure on Cloud and AI, NTT GDC India and ST Telemedia GDC on global operations, Cushman and Wakefield and JLL for land and industrial advisory, Pi Data Centres from the state ecosystem, Schneider Electric on power and cooling, and Jio Platforms on fibre and connectivity, ensuring an end‑to‑end approach from site and power to network and operations.

Policy and ecosystem depth is further anchored by NASSCOM, DSCI, ISPAI and IEEMA, and by academic leadership from Andhra University, IIM Visakhapatnam and IIT Tirupati, with resilience partners including CERT‑In, APSDMA, and APTS (State Cyber Security Operations Centre) and state network backbone APSFL to support secure, reliable growth at scale.

Operationally, the Council may constitute domain‑specific sub‑committees and task forces, backed by a dedicated Secretariat drawn from ITE&C and APEDB, with technical and operational support from Primus Partners for meeting management, coordination and follow‑through, enabling a tight execution cadence from decision to delivery.

This structure is designed to synchronise utilities and permissions with build schedules, convert anchor commitments from Google and Sify into accelerated construction, and expand the investor pipeline to reach the 6,000 MW target by 2030 through focused international outreach, diplomatic engagement and single‑window support.

“In the AI era, data is the new oil, and data centres are the new refineries. With Google’s 1 GW and Sify’s 550 MW as the first anchors of a much larger buildout, I am confident Vizag will emerge as the data centre capital of the country,” said Nara Lokesh.

He stated that the Advisory Council will guide decisive policy, power and permissions to make Vizag India’s most competitive home for AI‑era data infrastructure.

–IANS

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