Amaravati, Nov 21 (IANS): The Andhra Pradesh government is working to create an ecosystem for Information Technology companies with the target of providing five lakh jobs in the sector over the next five years, Minister for Education, IT, and Electronics Nara Lokesh said on Thursday.

He told the Assembly during question hour that the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will set up its unit in Visakhapatnam soon and was confident that the company would begin its operations in three months.

He said during the last five months, he had discussions with representatives of various IT companies.

"I also made a request to Infosys to set up another campus. We are now in search of necessary land for them and I am confident that within six months they will take off," Lokesh said.

Recalling that he has held discussions with owners of various data centres during his recent visit to the United States, the IT Minister said that since the previous state government did not focus on setting up data centres, they moved to neighbouring states like Karnataka and Telangana, besides Mumbai.

The data centre owners had raised several issues during discussions like data security and taxation, he said, adding that now talks are on to resolve these issues.

Expressing confidence that the discussions that he held with the top 100 IT companies in the country will be fruitful, Lokesh said that these companies also will be invited to Visakhapatnam.

He also stressed the need for a new policy for setting up global delivery centers of Fortune 500 companies which is likely to be adopted next month.

At least two data companies are going to set up their units in Visakhapatnam in a couple of months, Lokesh said and stated that efforts are on to get the NICSI to Vizag.

The IT Minister felt that if a national-level data policy is adopted data companies will certainly come to the state with massive investments.

He said it was gratifying that of the total employees in the entire IT sector across the globe, 20 per cent are Telugus. He revealed that that at least 150 companies were set up in the state between 2014 and 2019 providing jobs to 50,000 youth.

"We have even entered into an agreement then with the industrialist, Mr Adani, to establish a data centre in the state and have organised a conclave in Vizag with several IT giants," Lokesh said.

He said at a time when the IT industry was moving much further, there was a sudden halt due to the policies adopted by the previous government.

“Perhaps for the first time in the history of the country the government had demanded shares in IT companies following which units like the NICSI and the STBI have left the state as a result of which the youth lost the employment opportunities," Lokesh said.

Lokesh informed the House that the Bhogapuram airport works are moving at a fast pace and the biggest convention centre in the country which is part of the social ecosystem is going to be established in Visakhapatnam very soon. He underlined the need for more hotels along with such companies.