In the initial days after the state formation, there were many canards by vested interests that the IT sector would be doomed in Telangana and the top companies would move away from Hyderabad. To keep the doomsday predictions in check, IT Minister KT Rama Rao rose to the occasion and took up the challenge of making Telangana, the IT hub of India. In June 2014, addressing a gathering of IT professionals, KTR promised that the Telangana government is committed towards making Hyderabad the top-notch IT destination in India.
The Minister walked the talk and he delivered as promised. Today, after nine years, Telangana stands proud as a major contributor to India’s tech growth. In the financial year 2022-23, a whopping 44% of the IT jobs created in India are from Telangana. To put things into perspective, almost every one out of two IT jobs created in India is from Telangana and the rest are from other Indian states. In 2021-22, Telangana’s share of net new IT employment in India was 33%, and in one year, the figure jumped to 44%.
Telangana’s share in India’s IT jobs has risen phenomenally since the state’s formation. The growth story is nothing short of a miracle, after 2014, 21,10,000 new IT jobs were created in India, out of which, 5,82,319 jobs are from Telangana. It means the share of Telangana in net new employment is 27.6%. If we consider the cumulative figures, the share of Telangana in IT employment has risen from 9.83% in 2014 to 16.67% in 2023. The total IT employees count in Telangana has increased from 3,23,396 in 2014 to 9,05,715 in 2023.
The state’s IT exports too took a huge leap from Rs. 57,258 crores in 2014 to Rs. 2,41,275 crores in 2023, an explosive increase of 321%. In 2022-23 alone, the exports grew by 31.44% surpassing the national average of 9.36%.
All these achievements were made possible with strategic vision, meticulous planning, coordinated efforts, and an unwavering commitment. As Minister KTR mentioned at the launch of IT Report 2022-23, CM KCR firmly believes that your existing customer is your biggest brand ambassador. The Telangana government under the able leadership of IT Minister KTR has been successful in winning the confidence of existing companies and attracting new companies. The government focussed on creating a conducive atmosphere for businesses, bolstered the innovation ecosystem and gave a thrust to expanding IT To Tier-II cities.
The very fact that many of the marquee tech companies have made Hyderabad their home in the past nine years stands as a testimony to the working of the IT department. The top five technology companies – Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook have their largest presence in Hyderabad, outside of their headquarters.
Since the formation of Telangana, Hyderabad has become the most preferred IT destination, not only in India but across the globe. The state attracted several new brands into the city including Apple, Amazon, Salesforce, Uber, Micron, State Street, Development Bank of Singapore, Fiat Chrysler, Mass Mutual, Intel, Providence, Goldman Sachs, ZF, UBS, Mphasis, Pepsi, Legato, and F5. In addition, companies such as Facebook, Qualcomm, Accenture, Wells Fargo, Xilinx, Microsoft, Infosys, Oracle, TCS, IBM, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, Wipro and other companies have expanded significantly.
For the first time in the history of IT evolution in India, Hyderabad crossed Bengaluru for two quarters in IT real estate space consumption. No other Metro has done it for decades since Bengaluru took the first movers advantage. As a result, Hyderabad rose to number 1 in the city momentum index replacing Bengaluru as per the JLL’s report.
Also, Telangana is poised to achieve the target of Rs. 3 lakh crore exports and 10 lakh jobs set in the 2nd ICT Policy 2021-26 two years ahead of the schedule. Despite non-cooperation from the centre and scrapping of ITIR, Telangana is scaling unprecedented heights in the IT sector. The IT boom that is happening in Tier-II cities will further augment the Telangana’s IT growth story.
-Mythreya Kodakandla