The Telangana government has lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad cybercrime division saying Andhra Pradesh authorities have stolen online data they had created and tried to pass it off as their own. Telangana officials said Andhra Pradesh had copied an an online form and template they had created for businesses, calling the move “shameless” and unethical. Both states have been been trying to attract the same domestic and international investors ever since they split in 2014.
According to The Times of India, states were required by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion to answer a questionnaire on what they were doing to improve the ease of doing business. Telangana claims it submitted its response to the 340 questions by June 30, and that Andhra Pradesh had not.
The deadline was later extended, after which Andhra Pradesh allegedly “stole” the application form and website format that Telangana officials had created for businesses and submitted it as their own. Telangana cited two pieces of evidence, one that Andhra Pradesh had copied some spelling mistakes on their forms, and also that some terminology was suspiciously the same.
However, Andhra Pradesh said it has no need to steal data from Telangana as it ranks higher in ease of doing business, Livemint reported. While Andhra Pradesh ranks second on the DIPP’s list, Telangana is 13th. Andhra Pradesh government spokesperson Parakala Prabhakar called the case “simple and pure slander”, but Telangana’s Industries Minister KT Rama Rao has written to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the issue.
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