Nagpur: Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, on his tour of Japan, has asked the Japanese tech conglomerate NTT to extend co-operation for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) centre at Nagpur.
During his ongoing tour of Japan, Fadnavis met Hideaki Ozaki, Director, Executive Vice-President, NTT Data on Thursday. Already, NTT has a data centre in Pune. Fadnavis said that data centre policy was being prepared in the State, and appealed to NTT to check other locations in Maharashtra besides Mumbai and Pune.
“Nagpur can be an important place in Central India. We are starting an AI centre in Nagpur with the help of IIM. NTT can extend co-operation for the same,” he said. According to a statement issued by the office of Fadnavis, Hideaki Ozaki assured to visit Nagpur. Green energy and green building are essentials in building data centres, said Ozaki.
It may be mentioned here that Japanese tech conglomerate NTT had earlier hinted at expansion of its data centre capacity in India by doubling the count of its locations here. The company has data centres in 16 locations including Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, and has plans to consider Tier-II cities. During his visit, Fadnavis also had a meeting with Keiichiro Nakazawa, Senior Vice-President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Fadnavis thanked JICA for financing various projects in Maharashtra including Metro Phase-3, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Bullet Train etc.
Nag River rejuvenation at Nagpur, and Mula Mutha river conservation also are important projects. All these projects are monitored through a War Room, said Fadnavis. Fadnavis also interacted with Nagpurians living in Japan. “I am very happy to see that they are succeeding in Japan with their experiences and contributions. I am proud that many of them are encouraging Japanese investors to come to Maharashtra,” he said.