Cyberabad – The new face of Hyderabad

Hyderabad is not only the capital the newly born Telangana; it is also the biggest contributor to the excise revenue and taxes. Also, it is the largest contributor to the State’s gross domestic product, state taxes and excise revenues. And it has been possible because now Hyderabad has reached high levels of commercialization and monetization. Over past couple of decades, Hyderabad’s economy is changing from manufacturing sector to service sector. Since 1990’s Hyderabad has also joined to Bangalore to contribute in growth of Information Technology Sector of Indian Economy. In the North-West direction of the city, the government created a special zone named “Cyberabad” for the growth of IT sector in this region. Also, while planning for Urban development, they have considered it as a special development zone, and it has separate authority named Cyberabad Development Authority (CDA). Hyderabad started the slow transformation into a cyber-city that, today, has become one of India’s premiere information technology and IT-enabled service hubs.

Hyderabad has also become the country’s center for scientific and technological development not only in IT infrastructure but also in pharmaceutical and science research industries. To say that Hyderabad is the financial and technological capital of the state of Telangana is not a rumor; it is a fact supported annually by the many international technological firms that call the city their home. Foremost of these is the development of HITEC City which stands for Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy City. It is a major technology township that has become the center of information technology industry in Hyderabad. Composed of several campuses and phases, HITEC City has residential areas where the IT professionals can live, as well as convention centers and malls. Several multinational IT giants have made the City their base of operations in India, including Accenture, Oracle, Verizon, Microsoft, IBM, Google & Facebook.

After Bangalore, Hyderabad has been dubbed as the Silicon Valley of India, mainly in light of the fact that more and more firms have set up their operations there. Starting in the 1990s, software companies, business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, call centers, and other technological services were set up, making it the center for all call center operations, technological development, and KPOs in all of India. Reasons behind this IT growth are same for all other cities in India. And these are, first- the untapped intellectual talent in the region is immense, especially in the field of technology and mathematics. Another reason is that skilled English speaking labour is especially cheap and abundant compared to Western countries.

The state’s support for IT sectors is very strong. In Hyderabad, the government’s industrial policy for the IT, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceutical sectors is very liberal and high priority is given to its development especially since it plays a vital role in sustainable economic growth. Extensive investments in the city’s digital infrastructure are also being made to promote construction and setting up of several campuses to house arrays of companies investing in the city’s IT growth. Since Hyderabad offers a stable political climate as well as an efficient and good IT infrastructure, it is safe to assume that it will become a core player in Asia in terms of being information technology hub.