Ripples on the brain

For the past few days, I’ve been hearing a lot about Hyderabad that have made me believe (and even advise to a lot of people) that Hyderabad is the best city to settle right now. Some of the reasons that I think made me arrive at this conclusion.

- Wipro, TCS and Infy have announced huge expansion plans in Hyderabad.
Infosys: In addition to its current facility in Manikonda that is around 50 acres and houses 5000 people, it is going to invest Rs. 1250 crores over the next 10 years for a new facility that will house around 25,000 professionals.
TCS: In addition to the TCS Deccanpark campus (11 acres, Rs. 150 crore investment), TCS has annouced a new facility, Synergy Park, in 51 acres that will house 8000 software professionals.
Wipro: CM YSR Reddy formally opened Wipro’s facility in Manikonda that will house 5000 employees and laid the founding stone for a new campus in Gopanapally.

- Hyderabad is the first in the list of 23 cities that have submitted city development plans and signed MoU as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission of the Manmohan Singh government. The reforms in these cities will help them get funds for additional development.

- Giants like Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo, Accenture have their development facility in Hyderabad. Microsoft’s facility in Manikonda is its only development centre in India. Outside IT, important biotech and pharma companies have their offices in Hyderabad. The road that leads to ISB now houses atleast 4 huge campuses apart from ISB - Infy, MS, Wipro and CA.

- The urban infrastructure in Hyderabad is really developing at a rapid pace. A new 8-lane outer ring road project, a new international airport are part of this development.

- Last year around this time, I was ruing the fact that Hyderabad doesn’t have a place like the Marina or Elliots beach in Chennai. Honestly, I found a lot of good places to hang out in Hyderabad. Eat Street, Hussain Sagar lake, PVR/Central, Prasads etc. are good places to visit in addition to the old favourites like the Golconda fort, Museum and Birla Mandir. I must commend the AP Tourism for the avenues that they have created for entertainment in these places. The cruise in the lake and the light show in the fort are examples.

- Thanks to the Congress plenary session last year, many roads have been newly laid and are in excellent condition. All roads leading to the Gachibowli stadium are three lanes wide on each side. The area near the stadium/Hyderabad University is amazing with gardens on either side and reminds one of some foreign campuses.

- If I can believe what I hear, the real estate prices have just begun to soar and this may be the right time for any investment. I am sure the prices can go only in direction for the next decade in Hyderabad. One impressive thing about Hyderabad’s development is that it is developing horizontally unlike Chennai some years ago. This is taking the pressure off from old city which is anyway very congested.

- During President Bush’s visit, he announced plans to set up a new US embassy in Hyderabad. This will also be an important factor for IT companies while deciding to establish their facilities in Hyderabad.

Some of the sour things that I noted are:

- Road users’ discipline: This is a real concern. People in two-wheelers (even with kids) ride casually in high speed in wrong directions. Autowalas are still worse; a normal auto in the Gachibowli area carries 9-10 people - 3 in the front in addition to the driver and the rest in the back.

- Airport: I had a chance to visit the airport and I must say the facilities are really bad. There’s not even a public announcing system in the departure lounge.

- Motivations of the current government: Though some actions of the government are impressive, I have my own doubts as to whether the government is acting fast enough. For example, the roads in the Mehedipattnam-Gachibowli sector was pretty bad till the plenary session and were laid just before the session. In some sections of the road, even now some maintenance works have started and they take months to get completed.

However, I still believe that Hyderabad has the potential to become the most investor friendly city in India in the coming years.