Hyderabad: IT companies that want to set up base in Hyderabad will no longer be entitled to subsidised land allotment from the government.
Companies have to purchase land at the existing market rate and if there are multiple applicants for the same parcel of land, an open auction will be conducted by the government.
To woo IT companies, the state government has, since the late 1990s, offered land in the city at throwaway prices. A company like Infosys Technologies got hundreds of acres of land in the city for just Rs 12 lakh per acre.
Land in Hyderabad in any location at present commands Rs 15 crore to Rs 25 crore per acre. As IT companies are vying for land on the city’s outskirts and there is shortage of land, the TS government has decided not to offer land at subsidised rates any more. The decision was taken in the meeting of the Land Management Committee headed by Chief Secretary S.P. Singh. Official sources in the IT department said the new policy will come into effect in the new IT Park being developed by the government near Shamshabad international airport, spread over 250 acres, where the existing market rate is in the price band of Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore.
“The Chief Secretary has directed TSIIC officials to offer land to IT firms by conducting auctions. No allotments should be made at subsidised rates,” sources said.
“After natural calamities in Chennai and Vizag and law and order problems in Bengaluru, many global and local IT firms prefer Hyderabad. The good climate and business environment in the city, and political stability are encouraging more and more firms to set up shop here,” the source said.
Land was not auctioned in undivided AP
In undivided AP, there was no uniform policy to determine the price of land allotments. An IT company was allotted 6.32 acres in an IT park at Nanakramguda for just Rs 60 lakh per acre on December 12, 2004, whereas a non-IT company was allotted five acres for Rs 35 lakh per acre on December 14, 2004.
Another company was given land at Nanakramguda for Rs 60 lakh per acre on February 16, 2005, and a leading IT firm bought 15 acres at the rate of Rs 29 lakh per acre on March 28, 2005. No auction or tenders were called and land was allotted solely at the discretion of the powers-that-be.
