From Our Correspondent
Visakhapatnam: Cognizant’s entry into Visakhapatnam did not happen by accident. According to Surya Gummadi, Cognizant President (Americas), the project was the outcome of an unusually persistent and hands-on push by Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh, beginning with a decisive meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2025.
Gummadi recounted that Lokesh not only initiated the proposal but insisted that Cognizant take a clear call on expanding into Visakhapatnam. What was expected to be a brief interaction turned into a one-and-a-half-hour detailed discussion, during which Lokesh personally addressed every question the leadership team raised—from infrastructure readiness to talent availability, timelines, government support and long-term scalability.
Lokesh’s message, Gummadi said, was unmistakable: Vizag is ready, Andhra Pradesh will deliver, and Cognizant should not miss the opportunity. His clarity, preparedness and urgency pushed the company to reconsider its earlier plan and accelerate the decision.
What followed was unprecedented in Cognizant’s expansion history.
A project that typically takes two to three years to conceptualise, approve and execute was completed in less than 12 months—before the next Davos summit. The company has now broken ground on a 25,000-employee campus, tripling its original hiring estimate after discussions with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Lokesh.
Gummadi also acknowledged the state’s aggressive facilitation, including the allocation of land at 99 paise per acre, a policy the government has extended selectively to strategic IT investments to catalyse rapid growth.
Cognizant executives attributed the pace and scale of the Vizag project to the “dynamic and execution-driven leadership” of Andhra Pradesh, noting that few states match the combination of vision and administrative speed shown by Naidu and Lokesh.
In less than a year, what began as a Davos-side conversation has evolved into one of Cognizant’s most ambitious India expansions—cementing Visakhapatnam’s emergence as a major global technology hub.
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