Vijayawada

IT and electronics minister Nara Lokesh invited the chief technology officer (CTO) and founder of a company that builds and operates remote sensing satellites to Anantapur after the latter posted that getting land for making a satellite factory on the outskirts of Bengaluru is more difficult than making satellites. “Trying to get land for making a satellite factory in the outskirts of BLR has been way more difficult than actually making said satellites,” Kshitij Khandelwal, CTO and founder of Pixxelspace, posted on X.

Lokesh invited Kshitij to Anantapur near Bengaluru.

“Kshitij, there’s a new investor-friendly destination on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It’s called Anantapur,” he said.

He added that Andhra Pradesh is building Space Cities, aerospace parks and ready-to-go industrial ecosystems so founders can spend their time building satellites instead of hunting for land. The minister even asked the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) to contact Kshitij.

Earlier, responding to Kshitij’s post, Karnataka’s minister for large, medium industries and infrastructure development, M B Patil, said that his office would get in touch with him. This is not the first time that Lokesh has tried to woo aerospace firms from Karnataka. Last year in October, Lokesh extended an open invitation to aerospace companies to consider Andhra Pradesh as an option after then Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced withdrawal of the proposed land acquisition in Devanahalli taluk for an aerospace park near Bengaluru, following opposition from farmers who were set to lose their land for the project.

“Dear Aerospace industry, sorry to hear about this. I have a better idea for you. Why don’t you look at Andhra Pradesh instead? We have an attractive aerospace policy for you, with best-in-class incentives and over 8000 acres of ready-to-use land (just outside Bengaluru)! Hope to see you soon to talk across the table,” Lokesh had posted while tagging a story on the Karnataka government’s decision.

Earlier, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had ruffled feathers in Karnataka by offering a 10,000-acre land parcel in Anantapur district to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for potential expansion.