Hyderabad beat Bengaluru in IT jobs creation, says KTR

Hyderabad: Telangana's Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Monday that Hyderabad beat Bengaluru in job creation in the IT sector last year.

Out of 4.50 lakh jobs created in India in the IT sector last year, 1.46 lakh jobs were created in Bengaluru. "Hyderabad surpassed Bengaluru as the city added 150,000 jobs," the minister said during an interaction with IT industry leaders, organised by Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA).

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, also pointed out that for eight consecutive quarters, Hyderabad beat Bengaluru in office space absorption.

He said it was a matter of pride that out of 5 million employees in the IT sector, one million are from Hyderabad.

He pointed out that the number of employees in the IT sector in Telangana grew from 3.23 lakh to 8.7 lakh and the IT exports rose from Rs 57,000 crore to Rs 1.83 Lakh crore in the last eight years.

"The number of employees, employers who are looking at Hyderabad is growing. I sincerely believe that this is just the beginning," KTR said.

About the two million jobs that are expected to be created in India in the coming years, he said that the state government will continue to closely collaborate with the industry to latch up the opportunity

He appealed to the industry leaders to look beyond Hyderabad and expand their operations in Tier-II towns of the state, and urged them to point the state government to new opportunities, and prospective investors.

He urged IT giants like Infosys and TCS to lead such initiatives as there is a lot of scope.

KTR said the government has already launched IT hubs in Khammam and Karimnagar. The Nizamabad IT hub would be launched next month and this would be followed with the launch of Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda IT hubs.

The minister said that the state has been working to see how partnership between industry and academia can be formed.

He told the industry leaders that Telangana Academy of Skills and Knowledge (TASK) had trained over 7 lakh youngsters during the last eight years not just in the IT sector but also in life sciences, aerospace, and defence.

The state government has already set up a Cyberabad security council, which works in joint operations with industry.

He said during the last eight years, Telangana created a robust innovation ecosystem that includes T-Hub, WE HUB, Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC), WASH Hub, T-Works and others. He informed them that B-Hub for Biotech & Life Sciences Industries is in the pipeline and that T-Works will be inaugurated this year.

He pointed out that Skyroot, the company which launched its rocket into orbit successfully in its first attempt, was incubated at T-HUB.

Even Elon Musk's company could not achieve success in three attempts. Now, this itself was a big statement about T Hub's efficiency, he said.

Similarly, Dhruva company, also a Hyderabad company, launched nano satellites into orbit successfully.

KTR also spoke about the mobility, digital and other infrastructure created by Telangana government since 2014. "Telangana tops the list of states in the metric of per capita e-transactions offered through MeeSeva. First State to use facial recognition to renew pensioners' life certificates, and in local body polls," he said.

He revealed that the T-Fiber initiative to extend 100 MBPS connectivity to 10 million households would be completed this year. Likewise, T-Works, the largest prototyping facility would be inaugurated in the first quarter, he said.

In terms of transportation infrastructure in the city, he said the state government under Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) had envisaged 47 projects and of which 37 projects were completed.

He said Hyderabad would be the first city to treat 100 percent sewerage through STPs by June. The state government is also ensuring there were no drinking water woes in the city till 2050, he added.

Principal Secretary, IT, E&C Department, Jayesh Ranjan, Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Raveendra, Hyderabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand, Rachakonda Police Commissioner D.S. Chauhan, Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) MD N.V.S. Reddy, HYSEA's President Manisha Saboo, Chief Relations Officer Amarnath Reddy Atmakuri and others attended the event.