Hyderabad, the capital city of India's youngest state Telangana, is fast emerging as the favourite destination for big business firms to set shop, as nearly 20 IT firms are expected to open offices in the city in the next 8 to 12 months, according to a top official of the state.
"They are in advanced stages of discussion with us. We expect formal announcements to be made by them on the same, pretty soon," said Jayesh Ranjan, secretary (IT, electronics and communications), Telangana government.
Replying to a query on the allotment of land to Google to set up its largest campus outside the US in Hyderabad, Ranjan said that the state government had already assigned the land to the search engine giant.
"According to the communique that we received, Google is expected to lay the foundation stone for its own centre in Hyderabad in the first quarter of next year," he said.
Search engine giant Google had said in May that it would to set up its biggest development centre outside the US in Hyderabad, with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore. The new campus will be spread across over 2 million square feet and accommodate 13,000 employees.
The state government has already given its nod to the draft for the new IT policy, which would be announced after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in January next year, said the state ITE&C secretary.
He said that the IT policy would focus on expanding the IT sector presence "beyond Hyderabad" to Tier-II and Tier-III cities in the state.
"As part of the policy, we have identified Warangal, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Khammam to develop mini-IT hubs," Business Standard quoted Ranjan, as saying.
Formed just a year ago, Telangana has already become a favourite destination for big companies to set up operations, as the state strives to provide transparent tax policies and give speedy approvals to projects.
In the past one year, Telangana has emerged as a tough competitor to neighbouring states - Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Top players in e-commerce, retail and aviation sectors have already set up facilities or have announced plans to expand their operations in Hyderabad.
In July, US-based online cab aggregator Uber had announced plans to set up a "response and support centre" in Hyderabad, India, which will be its biggest investment outside the US.
