Bengaluru: Inviting global IT majors to come and set shop in Hyderabad, Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao said the city has the potential to replace Bengaluru as the top IT destination of the country.
"Hyderabad like Bengaluru is also known as an Information Technology investment region. The reason I have mentioned this is because I don't think there is a city in India right now which offers a greater value for money than Hyderabad," he told reporters on Wednesday.
He said "....the bigger bang for the buck, the better value for money, I don't think you would get in any city of comparable size in India today other than Hyderabad."
"So I wanted to request the Information Technology fraternity here, who is expanding, who is looking to new sectors, who is looking to support the new startup ecosystem, who is also looking to expand and go into other cities in India to take an active look at Hyderabad as a potential investor friendly city," he added.
Stating that there is political stability and decisive leadership in Telangana, Rao said "the better value proposition for a comparable city of its size, I don't think any city, including Bengaluru, can beat Hyderabad today."
The Government of Telangana on Wednesday conducted a roadshow in the city for promoting and attracting ICT & electronics manufacturing investment into the state.
Rao said he has had meetings with companies like 24/7, Quickr, Flipkart, Ola Cabs, Tesco, IBM and CISCO, among others.
He said: "We have had meetings with companies which don't have their presence in Hyderabad, which are looking to expand...Trust me we are not trying to snatch away anything from Bengaluru, we are just interested in wanting these organisations which are on an expansion mode to consider Hyderabad as a potential investment destination."
"We are not here to take anything away from Bengaluru, definitely we want to take one thing away from Bengaluru and that is the number one position that you guys are enjoying," he added.
On initiatives taken by his government to promote Hyderabad as preferred investment destination, Rao said "...at this point in time our focus is on the city of Hyderabad because it already enjoys certain first mover advantage as far as our state goes and we will definitely want to pursue it and ensure that we fulfil the full potential and then start looking at new growth area."
Asked whether his government is in competition with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who was on a similar investment attraction visit to the city recently, Rao said "Mr Naidu is definitely doing his bit for his state, we are doing our bit for our state and so is Mr Siddaramaiah (Karnataka CM) for his state; so there is no competition as such, I don't look at it as a competition."
"We as a country need to grow, like I said I want Bengaluru to do good, do better, but I want my city to be number one; I think there is a healthy competition that we are going. I don't think there is anything wrong in it," he added.
