Telangana’s AI ecosystem will drive global products, IP and businesses, says Sanjay Jaju

Telangana aims to move from adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to developing AI products, intellectual property and entrepreneurship for global markets, Principal Secretary and Special Secretary General, ITE&C and Industries & Commerce Departments Sanjay Jaju said on Wednesday.

Addressing the CII Telangana AI Summit 2026 here, Mr. Jaju said the state is building an ecosystem to support AI innovation, supported by a strong IT base and Global Capability Center (GCC). Telangana has Rs 3.13 crore in IT exports, nearly one million IT professionals and 515 GCC employs about three million people, he said.

Targeting five gigawatts of data center capacity, the state plans to provide sovereign AI-grade computing, AI-ready datasets, subsidized GPU access and sandbox tools through the Telangana Data Exchange.

Mr. Jaju further said that Telangana’s AI innovation body, ICAN, aims to position the state among the top 20 global AI hubs by 2035. He also highlighted the proposed AI city in Bharat Future City, Young India Skills University and opportunities in life sciences, banking, financial services and insurance, aerospace, defense, space and semiconductors.

Joint Secretary (ITE&C) Anudeep Durishetty emphasized the need to translate individual productivity gains into measurable business results. He identified human coordination, GCC-led product development and sectoral strengths in aerospace, defense and life sciences as key opportunities.

CII (Telangana) Chairman M. Goutham Reddy called for responsible, reliable and human-centric adoption of AI, better skills and greater focus on intellectual property protection.

The summit brought together government, industry and technology stakeholders to discuss AI adoption, digital transformation, talent, innovation and responsible AI with a focus on building a globally competitive and future-ready AI ecosystem in Telangana.

Key participants included Senior Vice President and Head of Cloud Services at Jio Platforms, MV Reddy; Convenor, CII Telangana IT and Chief Strategy Officer, N Labs AI P Ltd, Sanjeev Deshpande; Director and Country Manager, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Nilotpal Kumar Dutta; President, The Indian Digital Gaming Society, Rajan Navani; Managing Director, Signode India Ltd, Gaurav Maheshwari.

Published – 23 Sep 2026 20:45 IST