Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu going round the stalls set up at the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub, at Mangalagiri in Guntur district on Wednesday. Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekharan is seen.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday (August 20, 2025) inaugurated the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH) near Mangalagiri in Guntur district, and its five regional centres in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajamahendravaram, Tirupati and Anantapur virtually.
Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekharan, Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani, and a host of dignitaries, who included a few corporate CEOs, were present.
Set up on a hub-and-spoke model, the RTIH is aimed at driving a culture of innovation and supporting innovative start-ups and MSMEs as per the A.P. Innovation and Start-up Policy 2024-2029.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Naidu said he planned the RTIH with the underlying objective of nurturing one entrepreneur in every family in the State by extending the required hand-holding to them with the support of the corporate and knowledge partners.
Funding
The RTIH and its regional centres would be funded and managed by the private sector, while the government would provide a part of the seed capital and grants through the A.P. Innovation Society (APIS).
Mr. Naidu said Andhra Pradesh had no dearth of talented youth, but they needed motivation, and this was what the government was doing to bring the best out of them, while calling upon the youngsters to upgrade their skills to suit the requirements of the industries.
In the same vein, the Chief Minister urged the entrepreneurs to extend a helping hand to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots, for which the P4 programme had been launched to make the affluent sections adopt poor families to help in improving their living standards.
‘Worthy of emulation’
Mr. Chandrasekharan said he was happy to support the start-ups through the RTIH, and pointed out that India was in need of solutions (to problems) that were globally superior in the present circumstances. He expressed confidence that the RTIH would make Andhra Pradesh a leader in fostering innovations, while observing that the model brought to the fore by Mr. Naidu was commendable as it was not physically confined to a particular place, rather it was connected to the different regions. This was in itself an innovation worth emulating, he said.
Mr. Kalyani said the RTIH was yet another ‘mega idea’ of Mr. Naidu, and asserted that it would pave the way for innovations, while stressing that no effort should be spared to take plans from paper to prototype, and then to the industry, if India were to leverage its strengths.
Ministers Nara Lokesh (IT, Electronics & Communications), T.G. Bharat (Industries & Commerce), and Nadendla Manohar (Civil Supplies); Secretaries Katamneni Bhaskar (IT, E&C) and N. Yuvaraj (Industries); Kia India Pvt. Ltd. Chief Administrative Officer Kab Dong Lee; Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd. Chairman and former MP Jayadev Galla; and Greenko Group MD & CEO Anil Chalamalasetty were among those present.
Guinness record
Meanwhile, the ‘Aavishkarana Andhra’ programme launched by the Andhra Pradesh government found a mention in the Guinness World Records for the highest number of registrations of industrialists (1.67 lakh) done online within 24 hours.
Guinness World Records representatives presented the certificate to APIS CEO Mallavarapu Suryateja.
Published – August 21, 2025 08:32 am IST
