One advice from Tata's Chandra, WhatsApp groups for investors: How Andhra is clinching big-ticket deals

A 45-minute car ride to the airport, a single word of advice from Tata Sons' chairman, and a set of WhatsApp groups tracking global investors - Andhra Pradesh's pitch to big business, IT Minister Nara Lokesh says, is built around one defining principle: speed.

Speaking on a podcast, Lokesh traced the state's current approach to governance and deal-making to a moment early in the government's tenure, when N Chandrasekaran, vice-chairman of Andhra Pradesh's economic council, visited the chief minister.

"This entire speed came about in a car where I was driving Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran back to the airport," Lokesh said. "Sir (Chandra) is vice-chairman of our economic council, so as soon as our government came in, he came to call on the chief minister. I said I will drive sir back to the airport. Because I wouldn't get 45 minutes with him otherwise."

During the drive, Lokesh asked Chandrasekaran for advice. "I asked Chandra sir, what is your advice to me? He said, speed."

Lokesh recalled the reasoning behind that advice. "Because today, even a medium enterprise is investing thousands of crores in capital expenditure, and a six-month delay in government inefficiency is going to throw the entire business plan out. Now, think about it from Tata's perspective, we are doing billions of billions of dollars of investment. So he said speed is what you should deliver."

That message, Lokesh said, was immediately taken to the top. "And when I came back, and I briefed the CM, this was the advice given. He started living, breathing it day in, day out, and he has made it our culture."

According to Lokesh, the idea of speed has since become institutionalised across the government. "We all started talking about it, every minister, every bureaucrat, it is now ingrained into our heads that speed is what should differentiate us from other state governments."

Technology, he said, matters - but culture matters more. "The culture is very important, while technology, WhatsApp, or website is there, if the government does not believe in it, or the bureaucrats don't believe in it, if the culture is not there, you are going to fail. So, the first ingredient is the culture. That I believe we got it right."

On the technology front, Lokesh said Andhra Pradesh is still pushing reforms. "Yes, we have a single portal, we have a Mana Mitra, where a lot of permissions are given. Now, we are looking at every regulation, and I am working with industry leaders to give me feedback."

He said the state is reworking its regulatory framework sector by sector. "I am looking at logistics...(have asked) India's best logistics players to give me input, how do I re-look at my entire regulation, how do I transform my RTA better."

"And we are going with it very systematically, of transforming every regulation that is there, every act that is there. And we want to lead the reform from the front. That makes us very unique," he said.

One of the most striking elements of Andhra’s investor engagement, Lokesh said, is direct monitoring through WhatsApp. "The third bit is WhatsApp. So, I am on a close to 26 WhatsApp groups. These are actually business groups." "So, we have one for ArcelorMittal, we have one for Google. So, all major investments in Andhra Pradesh are personally tracked, monitored," he said.

Lokesh said he shares regular updates directly with company leadership. "I update to the global leadership of these companies that is the status report. We are heading to Davos, we are meeting with all these companies, I am going with my notes."

Using the Tata Group as an example, he added, "Because if you look at certain entities like Tata, they are investing across sectors, from data center to solar cell manufacturing. So, I go to Chandra sir with an update - these are all the businesses, this is the status update, these are the timelines."

The approach, the minister said, mirrors private-sector execution. "So, we have a very regimented approach, a very private sector bent of mind in that sense, of how we should not only sort of sign an MOU, but actually ensure that these projects are grounded."

In fact, he said, some of the state's biggest investments have moved ahead without any memorandum of understanding at all. "And all of you will be surprised, we actually do not have an MoU with ArcelorMittal. We do not have an MOU. We say it is a waste of time. It is a waste of paper," Lokesh said.

The IT minister, who is leading the state's ease of doing business, said the decision was mutual. "And Aditya (Mittal) and I agreed about Andhra Pradesh on one Zoom call."

Lokesh recounted how the deal came together soon after the government took office. "As soon as our government came in, I heard that Arcelor Mittal was looking for an alternative location. I knew Aditya for a long time. So, I reached out to him. He said, okay, let us do a Zoom call."

"He had three specific asks - two of them had to do with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and one with the Government of India," Lokesh said.

The turnaround, he claimed, was rapid. "Our call was 6:30 in the evening. Normally, I meet the CM in the morning at 9:30. I said I'll talk to him and give you an update. By 10:30, I said all three are done." "After one Zoom call, we clinched it," he said, adding, "This month or Feb, we are going to lay the foundation of India's largest steel plant."