AP signs MoU with Google

Hyderabad, May 11 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh Government signed an MoU with Google for allotment of about 20 acre of land in Kokapet in Ranga Reddy District in a bid to boost its efforts for achieving greater geographical dispersion of the IT/ITES industry within the state.

The MoU was signed by Information Technology&Communications Department Secretary Shailendra Kumar Joshi and Google Online Sales&Operations Director Roy Gilbert in the presence of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and Information Technology&Communications Minister R Damodar Reddy at Santa Clara in USA yesterday.

According to a government press release here today, the state aspired to transform itself into a Knowledge Society to make available benefits of Information Technology to rural areas.

The objective of the state was to become a leading destination for investments in ICT and major player in the information economy, it said.

Hyderabad hosted the second largest operation of Google in India which was home to engineering, online sales and service, information systems, human resources and other support functions. It was operating from a leased facility with 1,088 employees.

Google was desirous of expanding in the state by ramping up their employee strength to over 4,000 and was constructing a fully-owned techno complex. Google also said it will further increase its headcount in India based on its business needs.

UNI