Hyderabad vs Bangalore: Who'll make IT? - From News Paper

"The real estate market and its artificial price rise is discouraging many investors," Chandrababu Naidu, President, Telugu Desam Party, said.

Hyderabad: From being a relatively low-profile state on the country's InfoTech map, Andhra Pradesh has gradually come into the limelight with the IT boom. So much so, that it’s being seen as the next IT destination after Bangalore. But with an ambition to match strides with India's IT hotspot, Hyderabad will sure have to take a gigantic leap to fulfill its hi-tech dreams. With big names like Infosys, IBM, Wipro and Satyam looking at expansion plans in Andhra, Hyderabad could well become the next tech hub of South India. But does the city really have what it takes to crack Bangalore's InfoTech domination?" There is no denying that Bangalore is way ahead, but we are certainly trying," Secretary, IT and Communications, K Ratna Prabha said.

Figures show that Hyderabad is still lagging far behind as far as numbers are concerned. Export earnings of Andhra Pradesh are at Rs 12,500 crore while Karnataka leads with Rs 80,000 crore. The total number of employees in the IT sector in Hyderabad is 1.5 lakh while Bangalore has as many as 4 lakh.

Despite the state government's incentives to attract IT investors through Infotech Special Economic Zones, experts say it's the growing real estate prices and infrastructural facilities that is forcing many multinationals to stay back.

"There's only so much that a city can handle. It’s saturated and rising real estate rates are now forcing many IT companies to move to smaller cities," Prof P J Narayanan, Dean (Research), Indian Institute of Information Technology, said.

After two decades of low literacy rates and little exposure to information technology, Hyderabad is trying hard to come up and compete with Silicon Valley's favourite – Bangalore. "The real estate market and its artificial price rise is discouraging many investors," Chandrababu Naidu, President, Telugu Desam Party, said. For Hyderabad to get a larger share in the InfoTech pie, the state government will have to provide better infrastructure and more incentives for those looking to set up IT companies in the Pearl City.