Union Minister for Railways, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said Telangana is poised to emerge as a major high-speed rail hub with the Centre proposing three bullet train corridors linked to the State capital Hyderabad. He reminded that Telangana received a record budget allocation of ₹5,454 crore for railway projects for the financial year 2026–27.

Addressing reporters after the HYSEA GCCS & IT Roundtable at the Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre, the Minister said Hyderabad would be connected through three high-speed rail corridors — Hyderabad-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Pune-Hyderabad.

Stating that the proposed corridors would integrate regional economies and bring large-scale development to Telangana and neighbouring States, Mr. Vaishnaw said the introduction of high-speed rail would drastically reduce travel time between major cities and expressed confidence that Hyderabad would emerge as a key centre for high-speed rail operations.

Highlighting railway development in the State, Mr. Vaishnaw said the Centre had allocated about ₹5,454 crore for railway projects in Telangana, while the railways in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State received only ₹880 crore during the UPA government. The Minister contrasted the allocation with railway funding during the UPA era, stating that the present government had substantially increased investments in Telangana’s rail network.

He also mentioned the ongoing redevelopment of railway stations under the Centre’s station modernisation programme. According to him, Begumpet and HITEC City railway stations have been completed, while works at Hyderabad (Nampally), Secunderabad, Kazipet Junction and Malakpet are progressing. “The Begumpet station will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon,” he said.

Focusing on the modernisation of Secunderabad railway station, Mr. Vaishnaw said it was being transformed into a modern transport hub despite the challenge of maintaining regular train operations during construction. “Nationwide 261 railway stations had already been redeveloped, with the target of completing 400 stations by the end of this year and 700 by next year,” he said.

On Telangana’s growth in the electronics manufacturing sector, he stated that the State had benefited significantly from Central government initiatives. He said Telangana now hosts more than 100 electronics manufacturing companies and has emerged as an important electronics production hub.

Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy, Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao and other leaders were present at the event.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) approved four projects under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Two of the projects will be in Bhubaneswar in Odisha, and one each will be in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The cumulative value of the projects is ₹4,594 crore.

This brings the number of projects under the ₹76,000-crore mission, which provides financial support to semiconductor units, to ten.

The first chip from one of the previous six units — some are competing, so it’s not clear which — will be rolled out in three months.

The firms behind the projects are SiCSem (which will make a silicon carbide integrated facility in Info Valley, Bhubaneswar); Continental Device India Private Limited, which will expand its existing “discrete semiconductor manufacturing facility” in Mohali; 3D Glass Solutions Inc., which will set up a “vertically integrated advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate unit” in Bhubaneswar; and Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies, which will set up a semiconductor unit in Andhra Pradesh, with the location yet to be chosen.

Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that having the capacity to work on silicon carbide technology, an “evolving” field, was strategically important for India. “IIT Bhubaneswar already has a ₹45 crore investment in a silicon carbide research unit, and the results have been very good,” he added.

Geopolitics, geoeconomics and geotechnology are all changing the world order and hugely impacting businesses and economies globally, said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railway, Information and Broadcasting and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, in Bengaluru on Tuesday (August 5, 2025).

During this transformative period, India was fortunate to have a steady growth, he said while delivering a keynote address virtually to SAP Labs’ leadership and employees at the Garman tech major’s newly set up SAP Labs India Innovation Park at Devanahalli in the City outskirts.

Commenting on India’s economic growth and technological advancements in Railways even under challenging times, the Union Minister said, “From being the 11th largest economy in the world 11 years ago, India is now on track to become the third largest economy soon. Electronics exports have grown 8 times in the last 11 years. Very soon, we will start the production of the first Made in India chip. The Bullet train accelerates from 0-100 kmph in 54 seconds whereas Vande Bharat does it in 52 seconds.’‘

He further said, as part of the Union government’s initiatives to democratise compute power, 34,000 GPUs were made available to every student, researcher, and college startups across the country, a provision made through a Public-Private Partnership. Cost of per computing was less than a $ in India when that was $2.5 globally. “This is the kind of empowerment we are doing for young innovators. We in India decided to democratise access to compute power and in a very interesting public private partnership.”

SAP Labs invested €194 million to set up SAP Labs India Innovation Park, on a patch of 41 acres of land, and the facility is expected to create 15,000 jobs for AI innovators.

“SAP’s this new facility in Bengaluru is a timely investment in India’s growth story. This campus reflects global confidence in India’s talent and innovation ecosystem. It will further boost India’s position as a trusted technology partner,” Mr. Vaishnaw said.

SAP’s new innovation campus would reflect global confidence in India’s talent and innovation ecosystem, said the minister.

Strategically located near Kempegowda International Airport, SAP Labs campus is envisioned as a flagship innovation and R&D hub for India and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Once fully operational, it will house 15,000 professionals, making it SAP’s largest office in India, and will anchor Global AI roles in Product Engineering and Customer Services & Delivery, according to company officials.

The facility would lead the development of Joule’s agentic AI capabilities, reinforcing India’s growing role in AI innovation. As a future-ready facility, the campus would also feature a Customer Experience Centre, hybrid collaboration zones, AI labs, startup incubation hubs, hackathon spaces and plenty of green zones.