Hyderabad to beat Bengaluru in office space consumption: KTR

IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said Hyderabad was all set to overtake Bengaluru in office space consumption with the State ready to touch the 12 million square feet mark during this year.

According to real estate consultancy firm JLL, Hyderabad, for the first time, would achieve this mark this year. It also indicates that more employment was likely to be created and the performance of Hyderabad was set to reach greater heights, the Minister said in the Assembly here on Friday.

Ripping apart the Congress’ remarks on Bengaluru faring better than Hyderabad in the IT sector, the Minister said top IT companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple had set up their units in Hyderabad.

“If Bangalore was doing better than Hyderabad in the IT sector, then why did these top companies select Hyderabad?” was Rama Rao’s poser to the opposition parties.

Hyderabad registered a growth of 17 per cent in software and IT exports in 2018-19 while Bangalore’s growth was about 7 to 8 per cent, he pointed out.

During 2014-15, IT exports from Hyderabad were valued under Rs 50,000 crore but in 2018-19, the same from the city increased to over Rs 1 lakh crore, he said.

“Year-on-year growth is 13 per cent, which is three per cent higher than the national average growth rate,” he said during discussions on demands and grants pertaining to his



department.

Ridiculing the Congress leaders’ claim of industrial growth during their tenure, the Minister said not a single industrial park was set up in nine-year tenure of the Congress in the State.

On the other hand, since 2014, the TRS government had set up 59 industrial parks across the State. Over 49,000 acres were identified and about 38,000 acres were already acquired. Presently, master plan and infrastructure development exercises were being executed, he said.

Explaining one of the initiatives introduced by the TRS government, he said through TS-iPASS, clearances were issued to 10,993 units during the last five years. Of these, 8,294 units had commenced their operations and 700 were in advanced stages of completion while 746 were in initial stages. About 1,200 companies were yet to start construction, he said.

Making light of the Congress Legislative Party leader M Bhatti Vikramarka’s claim of getting public sector companies such as BHEL and others to the State (undivided AP), the Minister said the real strength of any government could be judged only when it gets private companies and investments.

Explaining the achievements in the mining sector, he said during the five years of Congress reign from 2008, the revenue generated was Rs 7,376 crore. The same increased to a whopping Rs 16,937 crore during the TRS reign from 2014-18, he said.