Telangana urges industry to build, innovate and invest in AI ecosystem
Hyderabad, Sept 23 (TNT): Telangana Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju on Wednesday called upon industry to “build here, create here, invest here” as the State seeks to move beyond AI adoption and develop AI products, intellectual property and businesses for global markets.
Addressing the CII Telangana AI Summit 2026 on the theme “Telangana to the World: Driving Global AI and GCC Transformation” in Hyderabad, Jaju said the State was working towards creating a globally competitive ecosystem for artificial intelligence (AI), supported by infrastructure, talent, startups, research and industry collaboration.
He said Telangana’s IT and GCC ecosystem had grown significantly, with Rs 3.13 lakh crore in IT exports, nearly one million IT professionals and 515 GCCs employing around three lakh people.
The State is targeting five gigawatts of data-centre capacity, besides sovereign AI-grade compute, AI-ready datasets, subsidised GPU access and sandbox tools through the Telangana Data Exchange, he said.
Jaju said Telangana’s AI innovation entity, ICAN, aims to position the State among the world’s top 20 AI hubs by 2035, supported by AI-first startups, research-industry linkages, skilling and an AI fund of funds.
He also highlighted the planned AI City at Bharat Future City, expansion of the GCC ecosystem, Young India Skills University and opportunities for AI applications across life sciences, BFSI, aerospace, defence, space and semiconductors.
ITE&C Department Joint Secretary Anudeep Durishetty said the next challenge was to translate individual productivity gains from AI into measurable business outcomes.
He identified human coordination, GCC-led product development and sectoral strengths in aerospace, defence and life sciences as opportunities for Telangana to take AI solutions to global markets.
M Goutham Reddy, Chairman, CII Telangana and Executive Vice Chairman, Resustainability Ltd, said the focus should shift towards responsible, reliable and effective AI adoption, with emphasis on trustworthy and human-centric AI, skills, intellectual property protection and outcome-driven solutions.
M V Reddy, Co-Convenor, CII Telangana IT, DT & Startups Panel and Senior Vice President, Jio Platforms, stressed the need to move beyond pilot projects towards productisation, trusted governance, secure AI infrastructure, economic viability and innovation-led GCCs.
CII Telangana IT, DT & Startups Panel Convenor Sanjeev Deshpande said GPU infrastructure, startup support, cybersecurity, trusted governance and globally aligned certifications would be critical to taking AI solutions from Telangana to international markets.
Nilotpal Kumar Dutta, Director and Country Manager, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India, said scaling AI would require enterprises to strengthen data readiness, security and governance and move beyond pilots towards production. He also stressed the importance of data centres, renewable power, cooling infrastructure and skilled talent.
Rajan Navani, President, Indian Digital Gaming Society and Chairman, CII India@100 Council, said Telangana had the ambition, talent and ecosystem to emerge as a significant global AI hub.
He highlighted opportunities across energy, data centres, compute, language models and applications and called for GCCs to evolve into global innovation and intelligence centres.
Gaurav Maheshwari, Vice Chairman, CII Telangana State Council and Managing Director, Signode India, said the AI conversation needed to move beyond adoption towards practical, business-driven outcomes, including AI solutions accessible to MSMEs.
The summit brought together government, industry, GCCs, technology leaders and digital innovators to discuss AI adoption, digital infrastructure, talent, innovation, responsible AI and the development of a globally competitive AI ecosystem in Telangana.
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