Terming Uttar Pradesh’s young and talented workforce its biggest strength, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the state government aimed to leverage it to establish Lucknow as one of India’s leading AI innovation cities, supporting at least 50 AI-focused startups in the city over the next five years.
“A decade ago, our youth had to leave for Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Hyderabad in search of careers. Work is also progressing on India’s first AI city and a comprehensive AI ecosystem in Lucknow. Speaking at an event marking 10 years of HCLTech in Lucknow, Adityanath said the government would work with industry to build a strong innovation ecosystem in the state capital. On the economic front, Adityanath claimed that Uttar Pradesh now accounted for around 55% of India’s mobile phone manufacturing and nearly 60% of electronic component production. IT/ITeS exports, he said, had increased from ₹ 12,000-15,000 crore to more than ₹ 1 lakh crore, with a target of ₹ 2.5 lakh crore in four years. Electronics exports had risen from ₹ 3,800 crore to ₹ 45,000 crore and were targeted to reach ₹ 2 lakh crore by 2030. Gautam Buddha Nagar has 12 IT/ITeS special economic zones, he said, while the new startup policy envisages U-Hubs in Noida and Lucknow focused on deep technology.
He said Lucknow should not remain limited to IT services but emerge as a major centre for artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, cybersecurity, computing technology and deep tech. Highlighting Uttar Pradesh’s demographic advantage, the chief minister said the state now had India’s youngest workforce, describing it as its greatest strength and biggest asset. The chief minister said the state’s identity had also changed under his government.
“Earlier there was talk of ‘one district, one mafia’. Today, young people from Uttar Pradesh are choosing Lucknow, and talent from across the world is coming here,” he said. Today the discussion is about one district, one medical college, one district, one product and one district, one cuisine,” he remarked.
Taking a swipe at critics, the chief minister recalled the Opposition’s reaction to the Digital India initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
