K T Rama Rao, the Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development of Telangana, announced that the TRS government has been committed to expanding the IT sector across Hyderabad ever since the formation of a separate state. He further added that the IT ministry has been pursuing the policies like GRID (Growth in Dispersion), aggressively and is making sincere efforts to ensure that IT corridors are not restricted to a few pockets. All this will help to create the ‘Next Gachibowli.
Under the GRID policy, the government has granted permission to convert five industrial parks into IT parks in the areas of Uppal and Nacharam. Built on an area of 25 sq ft, these five firms together will provide opportunities to close to 30,000 people. Three IT parks will be developed in the area of Uppal; Hyderabad Distilleries and Wineries Limited at 12.40 acres of land, Minacto Chem at 2.66 acres of area, and Swamy Soaps and Oils Pvt. Limited built at over 2 acres. Built on 8 acres of land, Gokuldas Exports Limited and Bakelite Hylam in Nacharam will also get a makeover.
What are the other major developments?
Real estate developer Ramky Estates & Farms Limited (REFL) and tech firm Genpact entered a joint venture, Genext Square, through which they will develop 14.37 acres of land situated next to the existing Genpact office campus. They will expand the campus to a ‘Grade A’ office structure. The managing director of Ramky Estates, Nanda Kishore in a media statement said that Ramky is extremely proud to be a part of this prestigious project and as a team, they are happy to support the growth of Hyderabad.
At the bhoomi puja of Genext Square, Minister KTR personally thanked Genpact for working on the firm’s expansion plan. He also mentioned that for nearly two decades, the IT presence in the city of Hyderabad has been confined to just a handful of places. But, the state government has laid out ambitious plans and policies to take IT growth to every corner of the city. For instance, besides the five parks in the Uppal-Nacharam areas, as we discussed, the government is focussing to reboot eleven more industrial parks into tech parks, towards the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway.
Other than these parks, several IT towers will also come up in industrial areas located near the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway. Also, skywalks in Uppal and Narapally are under construction and will be open for public use very soon. The government also stated that the industrial parks emitting more pollution should make a shift – outside the ORR – to elevate the quality of living in the city. All these new initiatives are expected to increase the state’s IT exports to nearly 1,87,000 crores by 2025.
With the GRID policy being rolled out, the city has seen a rise in IT companies’ growth, division of physical infrastructure, and development of properties and lands. Doesn’t it truly look like good times are ahead for the ‘City of Nizams’?