The US leg wraps on 9 December, after which Lokesh heads to Canada for similar engagements with the Punjabi-Telugu expat community.
Published Dec 04, 2025 | 2:51 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 04, 2025 | 2:51 PM
Nara Lokesh. Credit: x.com/naralokesh
Synopsis: Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh begins his four-day US visit on 6 December to woo Telugu NRIs and American investors. The highlight is a Dallas mega-event expecting 8,000 attendees, promoting the $10 billion Visakhapatnam DeepTech Valley. Meetings with Silicon Valley and Wall Street executives follow in San Francisco and New York, aiming to secure FDI in AI, semiconductors, data centres and skill development.
As Andhra Pradesh accelerates its push to become an IT and innovation hub, Minister for Information Technology and Human Resource Development Nara Lokesh is set to embark on a whirlwind four-day tour of the United States starting Saturday, 6 December.
The visit, described as a strategic outreach to the influential Telugu diaspora and American business leaders, comes at a pivotal moment for the state, which is leveraging its post-2024 election momentum to lure foreign direct investment.
Lokesh will land in Dallas, Texas, kicking off what promises to be a high-energy itinerary blending community engagement with high-level deal-making.
The tour’s centerpiece is a grand “Telugu Community With Nara Lokesh” meet-and-greet at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, where organisers anticipate a turnout of up to 8,000 NRIs, many flying in from across the US and even Canada.
Registration for the event opened weeks ago via the NRI TDP portal and has seen a surge in sign-ups from the vibrant Telugu community in North America.
“This is more than a meet-up—it’s a call to action for our global family to invest in Andhra Pradesh’s future,” said Venugopal Reddy Chenchu, spokesperson for the NRI TDP cell in the US, in a recent social media post.
Attendees can expect an interactive session where Lokesh will share his vision for the state’s DeepTech Valley project— a $10 billion initiative in Visakhapatnam aimed at fostering AI, semiconductors, and green energy startups—while fielding questions on everything from education reforms to ease-of-doing-business incentives.
The Dallas event is being seen as a launchpad for Lokesh’s investment blitz. Following the community programme on 6 December, the minister will jet off to San Francisco and New York, where he has lined up closed-door meetings with top executives from Silicon Valley giants and Wall Street firms.
Sources revealed that the discussions will zero in on collaborative opportunities in IT services, data centers, and skill development programmes, building on the state’s recent MoUs signed at global forums like Davos.
His pitch would be Andhra Pradesh as the “next big bet” for US investors, offering plug-and-play infrastructure, a young workforce of over 5 million graduates annually, and tax rebates under the state’s investor-friendly policies.
This US sojourn marks a continuation of Lokesh’s aggressive international diplomacy since assuming office in June 2024. Just last month, he headlined a fireside chat at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum’s (USISPF) Board Delegation in New Delhi, where he outlined AP’s roadmap for sustainable tech ecosystems.
Earlier roadshows in London and virtual investor summits have already netted commitments worth $2.5 billion, including partnerships with firms like Microsoft and Google for digital skilling.
The US tour, timed just before the holiday season, taps into the Telugu diaspora’s $100 billion-plus remittance economy, with organisers urging attendees to “turn nostalgia into investment.”
The US leg wraps on 9 December, after which Lokesh heads to Canada for similar engagements with the Punjabi-Telugu expat community, extending the tour’s footprint to North America’s investment corridors.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
