Hyderabad: Two years ago when new governments were formed in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, several analysts doubted the ability of the newly-formed government in Hyderabad to attract industries and (leave alone) retain IT companies in the city as they had a formidable rival in N. Chandrababu Naidu who was described as a reformer and a business-friendly chief minister.
Fast forward to 2016 and the Telangana government, led by IT and industries minister K.T. Rama Rao, has not only protected the Brand Hyderabad but has also been able to attract the global giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon.
Apart from this, the government has ushered in IT 2.0 in Hyderabad, which focuses on research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It's no longer a pure cost-arbitrage play any more.
“The IT industry has changed drastically over the recent years. It is no longer about just software. It's a mix of software, hardware and electronics. The Telanagana government has utilised the opportunities presented to the changed IT senario very well,” says Nasscom chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy.
According to him, Mr Rao is trying to have a fair balance between big giants like Apple and Google among others and encouraging startups through an outstanding institute like T-Hub.
Of all the steps that the government has taken for the industry, the most important and the game-changing, according to Progress Software president Ramesh Loganathan, is that they are listening.
“Their policies always take the industry’s inputs into consideration. “In the long run, Mr Reddy feels the steps taken by the Telangana government will further strengthen the Brand Hyderabad, especially in the technology space. The government has streamlined the education system. The quality control measures of the government were so stringent that some of the colleges themselves have opted to shut down.”
Apart from promising faster clearances, the government’s new industrial policy TS-iPASS imposes penalty upon bureaucrats for delaying permissions. In the last 12 months, about 75 medium and mega projects and 396 state level projects apart from 1,623 district level projects were given approvals by the government, creating as many as 1.2 lakh jobs. One of the prime attractions for industries in Hyderabad is the ready availability of land and the best civic infratructure.
After the Tata Group’s fiasco at Singur, the availablity of land at the well-connected business hub has been the important factor in setting up their facilities.
“We have all the required land for establishing new industries,” E.V. Narsimha Reddy, vice-chairman and managing director for Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSIIC), said.
Leaving behind India’s more traditional business centres such as Mumbai and Bangalore, the city of pearls Hyderabad is the best one to live in the country, says a global survey.
It is the best city to live in in India, according to Mercer’s ‘Quality of Living Report-2015’. This coupled with a listening government turned out be a great success formula for the Brand Hyderabad.
