Telangana seeks ideas to make Hyderabad top IT destination

Hyderabad, Sep 25: The Telangana government has sought suggestions from information technology (IT) industry and discussed with industry leaders its plans to make Hyderabad the number one IT destination.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and IT Minister K. Tarakarama Rao Thursday attended the executive council meeting of Nasscom, the apex body of IT industry in the country.

They assured the existing IT firms in Hyderabad that infrastructure bottlenecks, if any, will be removed to facilitate faster growth and offered to extend assistance to those keen to expand their operations to tier II cities like Warangal and Vijayawada.

The IT minister told reporters after the meeting that the government will soon organise IT workshop to discuss measures required to give further boost to the sector. It will also seek Nasscom's help in evolving in an IT policy.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, pointed out that as a city, Hyderabad is at number two in terms of IT exports in the country. It accounts for 12 percent of total IT exports. With a share of 31 percent, Bangalore is at first place.

While Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who earlier held a separate meeting with Nasscom executive council, claimed that Pune is at number two, KTR said Pune is at third position with 11 percent exports.

"We are not happy being number two. We discussed core areas and we are working on it," he said and pointed out that Telangana is attracting significant investments from multinational companies.

The minister said Amazon and Google are developing permanent facilities in Hyderabad while Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Cyient are also expanding.

With Rs.57,000 crore IT exports during 2013-14, Telangana as a state was at fourth place.

KTR said both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have the drive and are aggressive in promoting IT sector and hoped that they will be both leading states in the country. "We are for the development of both the states, although we want one percent higher growth in Telangana," said the minister, who is son of the Telangana chief minister.

Nasscom vice-chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said the meeting with the Telangana chief minister was reassuring. He said the uncertainty prevailed for last five years had come to an end and the state has a dynamic chief minister and the IT minister, who himself worked in an IT company.

IANS