VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam is emerging as the ‘Gateway of the East’, with major investments flowing in, including a proposed USD 15-billion Google data centre, GMR Group chairperson GM Rao said.
He was speaking at the Andhra University Alumni Association annual meet, Waves 2025, organised as part of the university’s centenary celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
GM attributed the city’s growth to the visionary leadership of AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and state IT Minister Nara Lokesh, citing major investments from Google, Reliance, Meta and the GMR Group’s Bhogapuram International Airport.
“This growth presents an opportunity for Andhra University to strengthen its role in academics, research and innovation,” he added. GM Rao urged alumni to mentor students, support innovative ideas and start-ups, and contribute to the institution’s growth.
Speaking to a packed auditorium, chief guest Sudha Murthy — Rajya Sabha member, founder chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and chairperson of the Murty Trust — urged students to embrace lifelong learning, perseverance and purpose. “Keep learning. Learning keeps you young, agile and happy. Perseverance is your best friend; it will never cheat you,” she said, drawing from her personal experiences as a teacher, author and philanthropist.
Describing Andhra University as a ‘temple of learning’, she likened students to sugarcane refined through discipline and examinations. She emphasised the transformative role of teachers and recalled the contributions of the university’s founders, including Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy and Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. “This university has a soul. It survived because people worked not for themselves, but for future generations,” she said.