Hyderabad: IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, backed by the tremendous growth story Telangana State had recorded in the IT sector including exports, made a strong pitch for the establishment of the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) in Hyderabad on Thursday, urging the Union government to consider this “important initiative” for the State.
In a letter to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rama Rao, requesting the Centre to reinstate ITIR in the State capital, pointed out that the Telangana government, through its efforts, had ensured doubling of the value of IT exports from Hyderabad from Rs 57,258 crores in 2013-14 to Rs 1,28,807 crores in 2019-20.
“This leads to a cumulative growth of 110 percent which is much higher than the national average. In the same period, our IT sector employment also grew from 3,25,000 to 5,82,126,” he said and observed that global marquee companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, Salesforce, Uber, Qualcomm, and ServiceNow had chosen Hyderabad to set up their largest operations outside their own headquarters.
The State government, he said, had also taken the lead role in promoting emerging technologies like AI, Data Analytics, IoT, cybersecurity, Digital entertainment technologies (Animation, Gaming, VFX), Blockchain, Drones, among others. “The proactive role of the State government in encouraging product development, R & D, and skill development in these areas of emerging technologies also encouraged many global and domestic IT companies to bring their technology development centers to Hyderabad,” he said, adding that through meticulous planning and robust implementation, Telangana had also emerged as the leader in promoting technology innovation through its specialized and dedicated institutions like T-Hub, T-Works, WE–Hub and TASK.
“Despite the global predicament due to the ongoing pandemic, the technology industry in Hyderabad faced minimum disruption in conducting its activities,” the Minister said, and pointed out that the State government, on its part, had provided the required assistance to all the companies and their employees towards a smooth and quick transition to Work From Home. “Nevertheless, the IT industry has been impacted by the global economic slowdown, and the post-Covid economic recovery may easily take some years to materialize,” he said.
“Projects such as ITIR also provide a huge boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives such as Make in India and also Atmanirbhar Bharat. The youth of Telangana will benefit immensely from the employment opportunities that will be created due to ITIR,” the Minister said and hoped that the Union government will rise to the occasion and respond to the State government’s sincere request in right earnest.
