The BRS government’s persuasion for several years has resulted in Hyderabad hosting the prestigious Formula-E this year. Now, due to the apathy of the Congress government, the organizers have withdrawn the Formula-E race scheduled in Hyderabad in February 2024.
“Following a recent official communication received from the new Government of Telangana, Formula-E is seeking urgent clarification of their contractual commitments under the agreement and how it could impact the Hyderabad race. Based on the content of the letter received, Formula-E is concerned the race will not be able to go ahead as planned,” said an official press note from the organizers of the race.
After the recently held assembly elections, Formula-E’s senior executive team met with the officials in the new Congress government and discussions have been going on since then. However, the Hyderabad E-Prix team seems to have now decided to move out.
Amid severe competition from several global cities, the efforts of former Minister KTR and the Telangana government successfully brought the Formula-E race to Hyderabad. According to the organizers, the inaugural Hyderabad E-Prix in February this year returned almost 84M USD in positive economic impact to the region. The amount is many times more than the overhead costs invested by Formula-E and the Telangana government.
Brand Hyderabad has been facing several challenges after the Congress party recently came into power in Telangana. A series of regressive decisions by the new government such as scrapping the Pharma City project, stalling the Airport Metro, and failing to convince the Corning company to stay in Telangana seems to be adversely impacting investor confidence.