The Andhra Pradesh cabinet recently approved substantial land allocations for investment promotion, including to a little-known startup, raising serious questions about due diligence and transparency.

The state’s Industrial Promotion Board cleared projects for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and URSA Clusters Private Limited during its April 10 meeting. While TCS was granted 21.16 acres at Rs 0.99 per acre in Visakhapatnam, URSA Clusters Private Limited, a firm incorporated on February 12, 2025, was allocated 59.6 acres for a proposed Rs 5,728 crore investment. The allocation occurred despite the company having no office presence or prior business history.

URSA Clusters’ listed address in Hyderabad is a residential flat with no visible corporate operations. The address belongs to a building comprising residential units without any indication of business activity. The directors of the company include Satish Abburi and Vijayakumar Pendurthi. One of the US entity’s directors, Koushik Pendurthi, is associated with Talas Pay. Satish Abburi also founded Elysium Analytics.

Public records show the firm has an authorised capital of Rs 10 lakh and a paid-up capital of only Rs 1 lakh. This has fueled concerns over the company’s financial ability to execute such a high-value project.

URSA Clusters LLC, the affiliated US-based firm, was registered in California on September 27, 2024. It shares a registered address with a single-family residence with no signs of corporate infrastructure. The company lacks a website, official phone number, or accessible contact email. A similar pattern was observed in the US, where no formal corporate setup was found at the listed address.

The Andhra Pradesh government claims the investment would lead to 2,500 jobs. Still, opposition parties and industry observers are questioning the decision to allocate nearly Rs 1,000 crore worth of land to a company with no proven business background. They argue that established players like TCS could afford market-rate land, unlike startups with no operational record.

Further controversy stems from a January 2025 MoU signed between the Telangana government and URSA Clusters LLC at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The MoU promised Rs 5,000 crore for a 100 MW AI data center in Hyderabad. That agreement, too, raised questions, as the company had existed for only three months.

Combined, both URSA entities have committed to nearly Rs 10,000 crore in investments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. However, no verification of past performance or operational capacity appears to have been conducted.

The developments have led to mounting scrutiny of Andhra Pradesh's land allotment policy, with critics calling for a transparent vetting mechanism to prevent potential misuse of public resources.