Go Green! I promise to send documents online rather than printing them. Do you?

The great Indian land chase

Space. That's the need of the hour for Indian industry, looking to grow in every direction. Companies are looking to occupy every inch of land they can lay their hands on to keep on their unprecedented expansion spree.
"Land is finite, money is infinite," quips a developer, hinting that the property boom is far from over. Instead, it has just begun. At least 50 overseas investors coming in with $6.7 billion in equity, which leveraged could spell fresh investments to the tune of $15 billion.
Inevitably, property speculation has emerged perhaps the\nhottest topic across boardrooms. Not just in India. The big guns of global\nrealty are watching Indian real estate prices ever so closely as the country\nlooks for ways to meet a demand for around 1,000 million square feet property\nover five years across seven major cities. \n\nWith rental yields in the US\nand Europe dipping to about 4-5%, squeezed by inter-fund trading given the lack\nof significant new realty development, funds are increasingly eyeing\nopportunities in emerging economies like India. To these global investors, India offers an\nopportunity that can absorb billions of dollars unlike many other markets.\nCushman & Wakefield has estimated cumulative demand across Bangalore,\nChennai, Hyderabad,\nKolkata, Mumbai, NCR and Pune at 840-1055 million square feet for 2006-2010.\nThe prime driver for all these investors is the India economic and demographic\nstory by 2010 India is slated to be the world's third largest economy with a\n300 million strong middle class that's larger than the US's. The IT sector\nalone would require about 66 million square feet of space by 2008, as per a\nFicci survey. Industry expects a demand for 25 million sq ft for 200 malls\ncoming up across the country, besides a significant surge in the hospitality\nsector. \n\nThis is the kind of projection that has made companies with no interest in real\nestate whatsoever till a few years ago enter the field. \n\nThose in the queue include top real estate funds managed by the likes of Blackstone,\nBroadstreet, Carlyle, Deutsche, Hines and Morgan Stanley. nkur Srivastava,\nmanaging director (India) of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, a leading real estate\nadvisor, sees at least 50 overseas investors coming in with $6.7 billion in\nequity, which leveraged could spell fresh investments to the tune of $15\nbillion. \n\n",1]
);
//-->
Inevitably, property speculation has emerged perhaps the hottest topic across boardrooms. Not just in India. The big guns of global realty are watching Indian real estate prices ever so closely as the country looks for ways to meet a demand for around 1,000 million square feet property over five years across seven major cities. With rental yields in the US and Europe dipping to about 4-5%, squeezed by inter-fund trading given the lack of significant new realty development, funds are increasingly eyeing opportunities in emerging economies like India. To these global investors, India offers an opportunity that can absorb billions of dollars unlike many other markets. Cushman & Wakefield has estimated cumulative demand across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, NCR and Pune at 840-1055 million square feet for 2006-2010. The prime driver for all these investors is the India economic and demographic story by 2010 India is slated to be the world's third largest economy with a 300 million strong middle class that's larger than the US's. The IT sector alone would require about 66 million square feet of space by 2008, as per a Ficci survey. Industry expects a demand for 25 million sq ft for 200 malls coming up across the country, besides a significant surge in the hospitality sector. This is the kind of projection that has made companies with no interest in real estate whatsoever till a few years ago enter the field. Those in the queue include top real estate funds managed by the likes of Blackstone, Broadstreet, Carlyle, Deutsche, Hines and Morgan Stanley. nkur Srivastava, managing director (India) of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, a leading real estate advisor, sees at least 50 overseas investors coming in with $6.7 billion in equity, which leveraged could spell fresh investments to the tune of $15 billion.
SEZ,\nof course, is a controversy. And foreign players are keen to keep out of\ncontroversies. This gives the local players to play their own game.\n\n\n\nAnd once they are in, these big funds with corpuses of\nmore than $10 billion each -- may just re-landscape the Indian realty space.\nLike their equity counterparts, they are known to pump in big money and move in\nfast once they have figured out the local dynamics. Before you realise what,\nthey may be sitting on huge chunks of land. \n\nNot surprisingly, global funds are seen as aggressive risk-takers and\nconservative Indians might do well to start preparing for their big-ticket\nentry that's looking imminent. \n\nAnd going by the great land rush across India, it seems India Inc is\npreparing for the deep pockets. Players from Reliance to Tatas to Infosys to\nIndiabulls are engaged in a never-before race to amassing land wherever it is\navailable. We don't associate these names with real estate. And then, there's a\nbigger realty game the special economic zones (SEZs). Everybody is rushing to\njoin the SEZ bandwagon. And the local players are quick to get on to this abnd\nwagon. for example Reliance has already earmarked Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400\nbillion) for a 25,000-acre project in Haryana. Critics say the whole SEZ\nprogramme is a major land scam whereby corporates are amassing huge chunks of\nland at subsidised rates. And there's widespread criticism that the SEZs are\nnot all about exports. SEZ, of course, is a controversy. And foreign players\nare keen to keep out of controversies. They are much more interested in realty\nprojects in the hospitality (hotels) and IT/ITES sectors as the properties are\nnormally of high quality and offer good returns. ",1]
);
//-->
SEZ, of course, is a controversy. And foreign players are keen to keep out of controversies. This gives the local players to play their own game.
And once they are in, these big funds with corpuses of more than $10 billion each -- may just re-landscape the Indian realty space. Like their equity counterparts, they are known to pump in big money and move in fast once they have figured out the local dynamics. Before you realise what, they may be sitting on huge chunks of land. Not surprisingly, global funds are seen as aggressive risk-takers and conservative Indians might do well to start preparing for their big-ticket entry that's looking imminent. And going by the great land rush across India, it seems India Inc is preparing for the deep pockets. Players from Reliance to Tatas to Infosys to Indiabulls are engaged in a never-before race to amassing land wherever it is available. We don't associate these names with real estate. And then, there's a bigger realty game the special economic zones (SEZs). Everybody is rushing to join the SEZ bandwagon. And the local players are quick to get on to this abnd wagon. for example Reliance has already earmarked Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) for a 25,000-acre project in Haryana. Critics say the whole SEZ programme is a major land scam whereby corporates are amassing huge chunks of land at subsidised rates. And there's widespread criticism that the SEZs are not all about exports. SEZ, of course, is a controversy. And foreign players are keen to keep out of controversies. They are much more interested in realty projects in the hospitality (hotels) and IT/ITES sectors as the properties are normally of high quality and offer good returns.
\n\nBut then, that proves the immense potential of the sector. "Land is\nfinite, money is infinite," quips a developer, hinting that the property\nboom is far from over. Instead, it has just begun. \n\nsource: Prashant\nMahesh and Ashish Gupta, Outlook Business, This article is an abridged version\nof the original. \n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom: VenkataSubbaRao\nAre [mailto:venkata.are@gmail.com] \nSent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007\n23:05\nTo: 'Ajoy@spatialhomes.com';\n'Sagar Yerramsetti'; 'kpelletiy@yahoo.com'; 'pravva@gmail.com'; 'Satish Kumar';\n",1]
);
//-->
But then, that proves the immense potential of the sector. "Land is finite, money is infinite," quips a developer, hinting that the property boom is far from over. Instead, it has just begun. source: Prashant Mahesh and Ashish Gupta, Outlook Business, This article is an abridged version of the original.

Templeton plans largest campus in Gachibowli

HYDERABAD: The world's fifth largest asset management company Franklin Templeton is planning to set up its world's largest single location campus — Franklin Templeton Park —in Hyderabad. The company currently has a centre employing about 1,100 professionals handling various in-house projects including operational and technological processes. For setting up of the largest campus, the company is implementing a project in phases in 15 acres at Gachibowli. The $40-million first phase would have a built up space of about 3.8 lakh sft to seat about 1,800 employes. The second phase, which is expected to be up and running by March 2008, will have an additional space of about 2.29 lakh ft to house 1,000 employees. "With this, the Hyderabad campus will be our largest single location globally in the next few months. The Hyderabad operations already accounts for 14% of the company's headcount," said Jennifer Bolt, Franklin Templeton's executive V-P. The company has around 8,000 employees globally, and with the new campus, more than 20% of the global headcount will be based out of India. The other two centres — Chennai and Mumbai — employ around 100 and 30 respectively.
The Hyderabad campus \n will act primarily as a support center for Franklin Templeton's \n services company, Franklin Templeton International Services (India) \n Private Ltd (FTISPL), which is based in Hyderabad and its operations \n and technology groups in Franklin templeton's offices worldwide. \n Gradually, the company \n plans to move some of its asset management operations, under the \n Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Ltd, headquarted \n in Mumbai, to Hyderabad facility. "The Hyderabad campus will \n primarily focus on the off-shoring efforts, gradually the asset \n management operations will be shifted to Hyderabad," said Greg \n Johnson, president and CEO, Franklin Resources. Templeton with over $55.2 billion assets \n under management and over 17 million investor accounts worlwide, has \n 7.2% of the market in the country and ranks 3rd in equity assets \n worlwide. It has presence in over 29 countries with over 50 offices. \n In India, the company has over 2 million shareholders and has 33 \n sales and services offices. India ranks fourth in the global \n distribution of assets. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ",1]
);
//-->
The Hyderabad campus will act primarily as a support center for Franklin Templeton's services company, Franklin Templeton International Services (India) Private Ltd (FTISPL), which is based in Hyderabad and its operations and technology groups in Franklin templeton's offices worldwide. Gradually, the company plans to move some of its asset management operations, under the Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Ltd, headquarted in Mumbai, to Hyderabad facility. "The Hyderabad campus will primarily focus on the off-shoring efforts, gradually the asset management operations will be shifted to Hyderabad," said Greg Johnson, president and CEO, Franklin Resources. Templeton with over $55.2 billion assets under management and over 17 million investor accounts worlwide, has 7.2% of the market in the country and ranks 3rd in equity assets worlwide. It has presence in over 29 countries with over 50 offices. In India, the company has over 2 million shareholders and has 33 sales and services offices. India ranks fourth in the global distribution of assets.

Saroornagar plot fetches 45,000 a sq yd

Hyderabad, Feb. 22: The auction of plots, both residential and commercial, by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda) continued on Wednesday. The Huda raised a total of Rs 82.41 crore through the bids. The highest bid, Rs 45,000 per square yard, was for a plot of land at the Chitranagar layout in Saroornagar. Three commercial plots went under the hammer at Chitranagar, with the plots measuring between 2,000 and 4,278 square yards. Bids for residential plots in Chitranagar ranged between Rs 13,600 and Rs 20,000 per square yard.
In Asifnagar, plots for group housing were bid for between Rs 29,000 and Rs 34,000 per square yard, while in Ramachandrapuram group housing schemes, bids came in between Rs 8,800 and Rs 15,000 per square yard. In Miyapur, for Category I plots, parties, including real-estate development companies, bid between Rs 11,100 and Rs 13,300 per square yard.
The auctions will continue on Thursday for commercial plots of land, for which bids were submitted on Wednesday, according to Pradeep Jain, chairman of the New Delhi-based Parsvnath Developers Ltd., a large real-estate development company which has a land bank of over 2,000 acres around the country.

Nandagiri land sells at Rs 80,000 per sq yard

Hyderabad, Feb. 21: Individual bidders on Tuesday purchased residential plots on Nandagiri Hills at more than double the 2004 price. On Monday, an institutional consortium had paid Rs 1.41 lakhs per square yard for a plot at Jubilee Hills. The highest bid on Tuesday was Rs 80,000 per square yard for Plot 11 measuring 359.99 square yards. The lowest bid was for Plot 18 at Rs 40,600 per square yard for the 334.88 square yards. About two years back, the highest bid amount was Rs 40,000 per square yard in the same area.
On Tuesday. an NRI bidder purchased five plots for nearly Rs 14 crore. “We are in the process of identifying the person who has purchased so many plots,” a top official said. Huda had put up 40 plots for auction, 27 were sold due to the laborious process involved by 9 pm. The other 13 will go up for sale on February 27. Huda secretary and chief auctioneer P. Venkat Ram Reddy oversaw the process.
The plots range from 250 square yards to 789 square yards. The total sales on Tuesday was Rs 72,83,74,102, Huda expects about Rs 125 crore from Nandagiri Hills alone. Huda officials said that the remaining plots are located in prime areas. Tuesday’s auction too saw open and closed bids. The plots were sold to the highest bidder in both bids. To avoid fraud, each bidder had to deposit Rs 5 lakh with Huda, which he would forfeit if he does not purchase the plot. Successful bidders would have to pay a quarter of the cost of the plot within a week.
Auctioning will continue on Wednesday for plots in Chitra layout in Saroornagar, Huda trade centre in Ramachandrapuram, Asifnagar’s new and old layouts, Ramachandrapuram ring town area, Miyapur and Neknampur government lands.

Jubilee Hills land gets dream price

Hyderabad, Feb. 20: A consortium led by ICICI Venture, the venture capital arm of ICICI Bank, and Maytas, the privately-owned construction company owned by the Raju family of Satyam Computer Services and Nagarjuna Construction Company, on Monday emerged as the largest bidder for a 23,659 square metre of land in Jubilee Hills, amid accusations of foul play.
The land is located right at the corner of Jubilee Hills check-post. The State government became richer by Rs 336 crore through the auction. As per the bid conditions which had been intimated to the applicants well in advance, Huda accepted bid amounts in sealed tenders from the applicants and went in for an open auction. Both the tender rules and announcements made by Huda officials made it clear that whoever quotes the highest bid among sealed tenders and open auction would be awarded the land.
The ICICI Venture consortium bid Rs 1,41,800 per sq. metre in the tender, while in the open auction, Gowri Shankar Gupta of Shagum Mall Management which also owns Hyderabad Central, bid Rs 1.35 lakh per sq. metre. Mr Gupta immediately raised questions about the process of having an open auction and a tender for the sale. He also indicated that he could be filing a lawsuit against the process. The drama started right from the time the open auction started. While the reserve price for a sq. metre of land was fixed at Rs 40,000 by Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda), an early bidder offered Rs 60,000 per sq. metre.
Mr Gupta then stepped and began raising the bid, until the rest of the 20 bidders backed out. His bid in the open auction was the highest at Rs 1.35 lakh per sq. metre. Mr Gupta was congratulated fulsomely by the Huda officials. It was then that the sealed bids were opened, and ICICI Venture consortium’s bid of Rs 1,41,800 per sq.metre was announced, leading to pandemonium.
“The process was rather quirky, because while the open auction was going on, an employee of Huda, was seen holding the sealed bids. Huda should have opened the sealed bids simultaneously to avoid the confusion of who was the highest bidder,” said one of the bidders.
Asked whether paying Rs 336 crore for approximately six acres of land was worth it, Mr Kishore Goteti, director, investments, of ICICI Venture Funds Management Company said, “We are sure it will be worth the price we are paying, because we see Hyderabad emerging as a key market in India’s growth story.”
ICICI Venture has a 60 per cent stake in the project, while Maytas, which is managed by Teja Raju, the elder son of B. Ramalinga Rao, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, and Nagarjuna Construction Company have a 40 per cent stake. Maytas and NCC have collaborated on other real estate projects in Hyderabad. “We will be putting the land to mixed use, which could include a five-star hotel and shopping malls. Huda has assured us that Floor Space Index will not be an issue. We will be paying 25 per cent of the total cost in the next one week, as required by the bid regulations. Huda followed the process of having both an open auction and sealed tenders, which has been in use since the last 20 years,” Mr Goteti said.
“The highest bidder will have to pay one fourth of the bid amount within seven working days and remaining balance should be paid before March 10,” Huda secretary P Venkatrama Reddy said. While 57 companies took applications only 21 took tokens to participate in the auction by paying the EMD of Rs 5 crores. As many as 14 companies submitted sealed tenders.

Land records via SMS in Telugu

Land records via SMS in Telugu

Hyderabad, Feb 20: The city-based National Informatics Centre is developing an application to provide land records via SMS in Telugu in areas outside the State capital. At present, interested persons in Hyderabad district can get SMS responses on land data by sending SMS queries to the designated number 94408 15861.
Revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao informed D. Sridhar Babu and others in the Assembly on Monday that about 1,900 people had used the SMS service from December 31, 2005, when it was launched. “It is yet to catch up. We are trying to promote the technology,” Mr Rao said. “It takes a couple of minutes to pass on the information. Since the land records in Hyderabad are in English, there is no problem.” Mr Rao said.
He added, “The data will be useful for those wanting to know details about the property in view of the largescale cheating.” In the rest of the State, however, the land records (Pahani/Adangal) are in Telugu. To overcome the problem, the National Informatics Centre is developing the application in Telugu so that people in the rest of the State can get land data on SMS. In the existing service, the applicant can ask for land details by sending the block number, ward number and town survey number to 94408 15861. The response mentions who is enjoying the property, the area in square-metres the locality where the property exists.
The application has been developed through purchase of a global system for mobile communications modem. Mr Rao said the size of the message was limited to 160 characters. In case the data is more than 160 characters, two SMSs would be received.

SemIndia deal to be signed Feb 15

Hyderabad, Feb. 15: Fab City is now a reality. The State government will formally sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SemIndia for Fab City on Thursday. Sources in the Chief Ministers’ Office (CMO) told this correspondent that SemIndia CEO Vinod K. Agarwal and representatives from APInvest would sign the MoU in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy for the 1,200-acre project in Tukkuguda, Ranga Reddy district. “The MoU signing ceremony will be held between 2 pm and 4 pm,” a CMO official told this correspondent.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday admitted that Karnataka had lost out the fabrication project to Andhra Pradesh. Briefing reporters on his two-day visit to New Delhi with his deputy B.S. Yediyurappa, Mr Kumaraswamy said Fab City’s promoters had declined to reconsider their decision to locate the project in Hyderabad. “The promoters have conveyed that though they had taken a hasty decision to locate the project in Hyderabad, there was no question of reviewing it. They, however, promised to invest in Karnataka in the future,” Mr Kumaraswamy said.
The Karnataka Chief Minister also termed his first visit to Delhi as chief minister a success. He said the Centre had offered to locate in Bangalore a centre for corporate excellence, provided the state offered land and other infrastructure.

Hyderabad may get largest Infy campus

HYDERABAD: Going by current indications, Hyderabad is all set to house Infosys' largest campus in the country. Even though negotiations are on, the Indian IT bellwether is likely to set up its second campus in the city spread over 400-700 acres at Maheshwaram, close to the upcoming international airport.
A high-level Infosys team, which deals with infrastructure issues is expected to be in town later this week to have a close look at the land being offered to them.
The team will also indicate the amount of land it wants. The land will be offered to the company at government rates — which is much less than the market rate. The government is willing to give up to 1,000 acres to the company, but the corporate wants much less.
Infosys' largest campus till now is in Mysore where it is sprawled over 325 acres and Bangalore, where the company is located on 80 acres of land.
A high-level team was to visit Hyderabad on January 27. Since the CM was not available on that day — as his mother had passed away — the team dropped the visit.
Incidentally Hi-tech city, the present hub of IT in Hyderabad occupies only 140 acres of land. Infosys' campus alone will be bigger than this. When Infosys sets up this new complex, it will be their second campus in Hyderabad. The total investment by Infosys so far in Karnataka is about Rs 1,700 crore. In Hyderabad; the company has its campus in about 50 acres. While in Karnataka, the company has about 30,000 people, it already employs over 4,500people in Hyderabad. "The company is likely to go in for outright purchase of land at government rates instead of going in for a job-linked subsidy scheme," a source said. The IT major is also likely to seek SEZ status for its new campus. Once the Centre grants the status, the company will be eligible for income benefits for 10 years, duty-free import and domestic procurement of goods required for operations, exemption from service tax and an option of generation, distribution and transmission of power. "The proposed campus of Infosys near Shamshabad will be the mother of all campuses. But, one has to wait and see the employment potential the campus provides. Hi-tech City, with over 100 prominent companies, provides jobs to over one lakh people," an industry source said.

Fab victory

There is lot of euphoria in Andhra Pradesh, particularly in government circles, over the selection of Hyderabad as the location of the $3 billion Fab City for the manufacture of microprocessors and semiconductors. Official drum-beaters claim that Chief Minister Y.S. Raja-sekhar Reddy outbid his predecessor — the IT-savvy N. Chandrababu Naidu — and pulled off a “coup” by snatching the Fab project, billed as India’s first electronic hardware complex, from India’s now-declining ‘Silicon Valley’ — Bangalore.
The new facility, to be commissioned in two years from now, is being promoted by SemIndia, a US-based consortium of Indian origin entrepreneurs, technocrats and angel investors. SemIndia has signed an agreement with Advanced Micro Devices, to license AMD’s process technology for wafer fabrication and assembly-test-mark-pack operations project in India. In June last year, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy had laid the foundation stone for what was also touted as India’s first mega fab project being set up by Nano Tech Silicon India, a company promoted by Dr June Min of Intellect Inc. (South Korea).
The $1.2 billion Phase I of the project was supposed to be ready by September this year. But officials say that Nano Tech project is ‘delayed’ since the promoters are yet to finalise the technology and industrial partners and achieve financial closure. Nano Tech is reportedly wooing Intel to join its proposed mega fab venture though officials say Nano Tech will now join SemIndia’s Fab City. Promoters of the two projects found Hyderabad to be the “best choice” in preference to locations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and even West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. It was in 1999 that Mr Naidu, then chief minister, had mooted an electronic hardware park near the new international airport project at Shamshabad.
The government identified 5,000 acres of land for this park and announced the electronics hardware policy in 2001 spelling out incentives and facilities for these units. Every year, the State government sponsored IT hardware summits to attract leading MNCs to set up their operations here but without success. In this backdrop, the present hoopla over the Fab project sounds a bit surprising.

Hike in market value aided revenue growth

Despite a four per cent reduction in stamp duty collected for the registration of properties, the Stamps and Registration Department is expected to increase its revenues by Rs 700 crore over the previous year.
If the real estate boom in the city’s outskirts partially contributed to the realisation of the current financial year’s revenue target of Rs 2,500 crore, it is the increase of market value of lands across the State that played a vital role in the 40 per cent growth in revenue.
The government’s move, however, made a mockery of the reforms in stamp duty on which the Centre and realtors have been insisting. After years of persuasion, the State government finally reduced the stamp duty from 13 per cent, which was highest in the country, to nine per cent this year and retained the 0.5 per cent registration fee. But the actual benefit of reducing stamp duty was not felt by people, thanks to the increase in market values.
The revenue of the department stood at Rs 1,900 crore in January and officials were confident of reaching the target before the end of the financial year. In Hyderabad, the department collected Rs 280 crore against Rs 239 crore for the corresponding period in the previous year. In Ranga Reddy, where the real estate boom is at its peak, officials achieved this year’s target of Rs 450 crore by end of January.
With the idea of increasing market value even further, the government directed the department to fix a target between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 3,200 crore. “With the real estate boom dwindling, there is no option for the department except to increase the market values,” said a senior S&R department official.
Though the department decided to bring the government market value to 70 per cent of the open market value, it could not implement it in several places, including the outskirts because of the huge difference between the two values. “For instance, in several places in Ranga Reddy district, the government value is Rs 1,500 per sq. yd while the open market value is more than Rs 10,000. We cannot go from Rs 1,500 to Rs 7,000 in one stroke. We have to increase the value gradually,” one sub-registrar in the district pointed out.
Official sources said the department identified Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Hitec city, Nanakramguda, Gopanapalli, Vattinagulapalli, Kondapur, Medchal, Shamshabad, Maheswaram, Bibinagar, Pattancheru, Rajendra Nagar and Serilingampally, among other places, to heavily increase market values. Similarly, the department has proposals to increase the market value of agricultural lands in coastal districts.

City to get hawker zones, clear roads

Hyderabad, Feb. 12: The traffic police and the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad have decided not to allow pushcart vendors and hawkers, estimated to number about 4 lakhs, on the city’s roads and confine them to special zones. The move is designed to clear city roads, though it will mean that people, particularly working women, on their way back home will need to walk a little longer to pick up vegetables and fruits.
The police and MCH will divide the city into hawker-free red zone, the amber zone where street vending will be allowed on holidays, and the green zone for hawkers. Officials of the both departments have been asked identifying the areas from Monday. The scheme is not available for those who encroached on the city’s pavements and were evicted.
The MCH will use Geographical Information System to identify roads with heavy traffic and pedestrians. The officials expect to identify the zones in 15 days, and issue photoidentity cards in a month or two, earmark the hawkers and vendors categorywise, like vegetable vendor, fruit vendor, in each area. MCH commissioner Sanjay Jaju told this correspondent that the ubiquitous thelewala will not be allowed on all roads. “We will put up colour boards at each lane or zone so that both the citizens and vendors will know which zone is it,” he said.

Hyderabad spins tallest storey

Hyderabad will have another landmark in the proposed business district on the outskirts of the city. It will be either a single 60-storey trade tower, the first to reach such heights in India, or more than two towers of 30 to 40 floors each.The Andhra Pradesh government had initially planned twin towers on the lines of the World Trade Centre, but dropped the plan in view of the tragic overtones associated with such a design,"We are studying proposals for having either a 60-storey tower or more than two towers, each with 30 to 40 floors," AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation managing director B.P. Acharya told this correspondent.The towers, to be located at Manchirevula village, will cater to the IT industry, other business areas and even the stock market, he said.The government had first thought of constructing the trade towers three years ago when a group of non-resident Indians from Australia proposed the project. At that time, the business district was to be located on the premises of the old Gandhi Hospital near Secunderabad railway station. The government finally selected Manchirevula because of its proximity to the international airport at Shamshabad and the Outer Ring Road passing by the village.The government has issued orders (G.O. Ms No. 269) handing over the project to the APIIC. The Ranga Reddy district authorities have already handed over 100 acres of land in surveys number 283 and 311 to the corporation to prepare the groundwork.The corporation has appointed Bangalore-based Venkataramana Associates and a Malaysian firm to work out the business district concept. They have been asked to prepare different modules of which one would be selected.Mr Acharya said the architects are expected to come out with the concept and master plan within two months. In the meantime, the corporation will lay approach roads to the site. Though the project is to be located beside the Outer Ring Road, it will take three years to come up.Once the design is complete, the corporation will select a developer to build the business district.

Hyderabad got Fab City due to my efforts: Naidu

Hyderabad, Feb. 10: Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday claimed credit for SemIndia choosing the city to set up its $3billion Fab City, inviting a furious reply from the Congress. Mr Naidu said the achievement was the result of his efforts to improve infrastructure and place the city on the international map. “We had taken several initiatives because of which investors are coming in now,” he said.
Mr Naidu said his government had allotted 5,000 acres of land to the international airport at Shamshabad and 5,000 acres for a hardware park in its vicinity. These factors played a vital role in SemIndia’s decision, he said. Asked about Mr Naidu’s claim, State finance minister K. Rosaiah said he would not deny credit to Mr Naidu if the TD government’s measures had helped in bringing the mega project.
“We will certainly appreciate any initiative taken by the previous government in bringing projects to State. They (TD) may have taken the initiative, but it materialised only under the leadership of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. Ultimately, we are doing the ribbon cutting,” he said with a chuckle. He added, “(Union IT minister) Mr Dayanidi Maran clearly admitted that the project had come to Hyderabad because of pro-active initiatives of the government.
This was possible because of the fiscal management during the last 20 months,” he said. “We have not availed of the ways and means advances from the Reserve Bank of India even for one day,” Mr Rosaiah said. He said the TD government had conducted several partnership summits and had gone to the Davos Summit in Switzerland on six occasions to attract investment.
“We all know what happened to those MoUs signed year after year with great fanfare for thousands of crores of rupees. None of the projects materialised. The total industrial investments between 1994-2004 was Rs 13,024 crore, and between 1999-2004 Rs 5,685 crore,” he said. Not a single public sector unit had come to the State during Mr Naidu’s tenure, he said. Even the LNG project in Kakinada had moved out.

City beats Bangalore to Fab

Hyderabad/Bangalore, Feb. 9: Hyderabad beat Bangalore and grabbed the $3 billion Fab City, India’s first electronic hardware manufacturing complex. Companies at Fab City will manufacture a range of products from microprocessors (chips) and semiconductors to consumer electronics. The announcement that Hyderabad would get the project was made in Bangalore by Union IT and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran. He scooped the AP government which was waiting for the Centre to make changes in the IT policy to provide incentives for hardware manufacturing units.
SemIndia chief executive office Vinod K. Agarwal rushed to Hyderabad from Bangalore to make the announcement locally. SemIndia said it would set up the project in association with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the second largest manufacturer of microprocessors. SemIndia is a consortium of overseas Indians and Dr Agarwal, a former faculty member at McGill University in Canada.
The State government has allocated 1,200 acres of land at Tukkuguda of Maheshwaram mandal near Shamshabad, close to the international airport. Groundbreaking for phase-I of the project will take place in March. Dr Agarwal told reporters at the Chief Minister’s camp office that the State had emerged as the frontrunner because of the initiatives of Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and his team to meet the requirements of the project.
According to a senior government official familiar with the negotiations with SemIndia, the government will be floating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement the Fab City project, with APIIC holding a part of the equity for providing the land. “AMD will be setting up the first fab unit. Cypress Semiconductor is another company which will be setting up a unit. In all, we expect eight to nine fab units,” the official said.
Dr Agarwal said Fab City would consist of a range of electronic hardware units manufacturing products from microprocessors to communication equipment and consumer electronics. It would provide direct employment to thousands of skilled staff and lakhs of semi-skilled and unskilled personnel. With the fab units, India could emerge as a leading base for the electronics manufacturing and building industry that would be worth $40-47 billion by 2008, he said.
Dr Agarwal said work on the year-long $1 million first phase would commence immediately and comprise assembly and testing units. The actual fabricating unit would take another two years. Phase-II would commence in 2007, he said.
The Centre would have an equity of $250 million in the project. Half the remaining investment would be borne by SemIndia and AMD and the rest would be raised through debt financing. “The financial details are being worked out and we hope to achieve financial closure very soon,” Dr Agarwal said. AMD had announced an agreement with SemIndia covering manufacturing, technology licensing, and business development, during the visit of its chairman, president and CEO Hector Ruiz to New Delhi in November last year.
Dr Agarwal said that initially the skilled staff, most of them non-resident Indians, would be brought in from the United States. They would select staff within India and train them. Fab City would, therefore, consist of a large research institute where the latest advancements in the electronics industry would be studied. “It is a complete eco-system,” he said.
Dr Agarwal said the semiconductor unit planned by P. June Min, a South Korean entrepreneur, would be part of Fab City. “Apart from that it will have a lot of spin-offs in the form of ancillary units, providing employment to lakhs of people,” he said.
Dr Reddy said the project would not have materialised but for the initiative taken by Mr Maran, who convinced Fab companies in the US to set up units in India. He assured that the State government would provide infrastructure, including water and electricity, for the project. “I am confident that Andhra Pradesh would emerge as a top player in the hardware industry,” he said. The project reportedly needs 10 million gallons of water daily and 65 MW of power besides a waste treatment plant.
Dr Agarwal founded LogicVision, a yield learning technology provider in San Jose, California, in 1992, and was its CEO till 2003. He resigned from LogicVision’s board on November 7 last year.
While it is unclear whether Dr Agarwal has the financial muscle to bankroll a multi-billion dollar project, according to a November 9 filing by LogicVision with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States his severance package from the company totalled $400,000 (about Rs 1.9 crore). Asked whether the State government had done due diligence on Dr Agarwal to prevent the recurrence of a Volkswagen-like debacle, the official said, “Due diligence was done by the Centre, and it is also planning to invest in the equity of Fab City.”

Vijayawada is next IT hub

Hyderabad, Feb. 1: The State government will make Vijayawada the third focused destination for information technology after Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The city will get an IT tower and a special economic zone park soon, the State Cabinet decided on Wednesday.
The Cabinet approved allotment of 30.6 acres of land to the information technology and communication (IT&C) department in Keesarapalli village of Gannavaram mandal, 30 km from Vijayawada, for construction of the IT towers and SEZ to attract the ICT industry and entrepreneurs, particularly NRIs from the coastal belt.
The IT towers would be a self-contained modern township comprising office space for small, medium enterprises and home-grown IT companies, incubation centre for first generation technocrat entrepreneurs, restaurants and food courts, shopping malls, health club, swimming pools and places for entertainment.
About 12 lakh squarefeet can be constructed in the area, it could create employment opportunities to 40,000 people. The incentives announced for Tier II locations under the IT&C policy 2005-2010 and the Centre’s SEZ scheme would be applicable to Vijayawada, providing host of concessions to entrepreneurs. “The IT&C department would have to pay Rs 2.25 crore to the jails department for the land,” information and energy minister Mohd Ali Shabbir said after the cabinet meeting.
Explaining Vijayawada’s importance, IT&C secretary K. Ratna Prabha told this correspondent, “Every fourth engineering professional in Silicon Valley is from India and every fourth Indian is from Andhra Pradesh. Every fourth person from AP hails from the Vijayawada region.”
Ms Prabha said that Vijayawada could be an IT hub as it was centrally located in the coastal area, five hours by road from Hyderabad and well connected by road, rail and air. It is an advanced commercial, trading and business centre, produces 2.5 lakh English speaking graduates annually, has technical infrastructure like thermal power stations, STPI, satellite earth station.

PortalPlayer Inc., Hyderabad

PortalPlayer Inc., a leading supplier of semiconductor, firmware and software solutions for personal media players and secondary display-enabled notebook computers, has announced that Hyderabad will be the base for its Indian operations.The new facility at IT Park Layout in Nanakramguda Village, AP is designed on five acres of land and can support up to 300 employees. It is expected to be ready by October 2006."PortalPlayer Hyderabad houses some of the brightest engineers in the world working on portable multimedia technology," said J.A.Chowdary, President & MD, PortalPlayer subsidiary, Hyderabad. "This new facility will enable us to double in size, adding to our talented group of software, firmware, and semiconductor engineers."

Dell urged to set up manufacturing unit in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Sunday invited US-based Dell Inc, the world's largest maker of personal computers, to set up its manufacturing facility in this southern city.The chief minister urged Dell CEO Kevin Rollins to set up the proposed unit in Hyderabad and promised to extend all possible assistance.The chief minister extended the invitation during the inauguration of the company's new campus at Hitec City, a hub of IT companies on the city outskirts.Rollins is expected to make a formal announcement about setting up a manufacturing base in India during his visit to New Delhi Monday.Dell officials participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, had said Saturday that the company planned to set up a manufacturing unit in India.The 500,000 square feet campus, which has come up on 6.6 acres of land, has state-of-the art training labs and employee amenities such as a cafeteria, recreation rooms and a gymnasium."We have a strong team in Hyderabad committed to supporting our customers' needs," said Rollins."This team is helping grow Dell's global business, and strengthen our presence in Hyderabad and in India. Our new building is a monument to their achievements and a symbol of the great successes yet to come."The facility will house Dell's customer contact centre operations and a global development centre for IT projects that enable the company to deploy technology for competitive advantage and expand its business worldwide.These operations are currently being conducted from Dell's leased facility, also located in Hitec City, which opened in 2003.Reddy, who had laid the foundation stone for the new campus in December 2004, was all praise for completing the campus in a short period.The Hyderabad customer contact centre, opened in 2003, employs 3,000 people and offers businesses of all types of multiple services, including sales, customer care, technical support, e-mail support and global financial services.It is Dell's second of the three such centres in India; the first was in Bangalore in 2001. In March 2005, Dell set up its third centre at Mohali.The $53-billion IT major employs about 10,000 people in India.

Realtors to develop 20mn sqft office space for IT firms in Hyd

Over 20 million square-feet of office space to accommodate IT and software companies will be built by private IT park developers in the next three years in Hyderabad.
This marks a new phase in the development of the IT sector in Andhra Pradesh where private players are all set to develop these facilities on their own without the support of government in terms of land allocation or subsidy. In fact, about 4 million square-feet of office space meant for IT operations is already under construction in the city.
Over 10 private IT park developers, including DLF, Lanco Infratec, Divyashree, Rahejas, Dakshin Info, and Pioneer IT Park have received necessary approvals from the IT&C department to construct facilities in Hyderabad.
The government normally extends incentives like reimbursement of registration fee and power at subsidised rates to the companies, which locate their operations in IT parks.
“This shows the growing demand from IT companies to either locate or expand their operations in Hyderabad, which is a welcome sign for the future of the IT sector in the state,” K Ratna Prabha, secretary, IT&C department, told Business Standard here on Monday.
Since the construction of L&T Infocity in 1999 as a joint venture with the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), the government has been providing land at concessional rates to IT companies and infrastructure developers in an effort to attract more and more investments and jobs into the IT sector.
Realising the vast IT potential in Hyderabad, private developers have now started building infrastructure parallel to the government’s efforts. Bangalore, India’s silicon valley, too witnessed private players jumping on to the IT infrastructure bandwagon. Now, Hyderabad was catching up with Bangalore, Ratna Prabha observed.
Private players may get a huge chunk of the pie by going into the IT infrastructure development as the land with APIIC is fast exhausting after allocating to several companies including software giants Infosys, TCS and Wipro.
Even in the 130-acre IT SEZ, proposed to be developed by the state government, there is no room as the allotment to small and medium companies has been made.
Another IT park proposed on 1,300-acres near the upcoming international airport is unlikely to leave any space for more IT firms as Infosys alone may get a huge chunk of it.
The IT secretary said the government was scouting for more land around Hyderabad to locate more firms. Thus, the growing demand for infrastructure facilities and land in the state capital leaves the field open for private developers.

Drive launched to clear unregistered documents

The stamps and Registration Department has launched a special drive to clear documents kept unregistered with the district and sub-registrar offices for various reasons. The drive, which will be in force till end of March, will provide an opportunity for property holders to clear the hurdles and get their property registered. In Hyderabad district alone, there are 1,593 documents involving properties worth Rs 30 crore which have been kept unregistered either with the district registrar office or sub-registrar offices under its purview of which some documents are pending since 1976.
“We will provide an opportunity for the people to resolve the dispute coming in the way of registering their documents during the drive. We will issue refusal orders once the drive is over,” said V. Srinivasulu, Hyderabad district registrar, told this correspondent. The documents are kept unregistered mainly because of the parties disagreeing with the market rate fixed by the government for the particular property, non-appearance of all the signatories of the document, lack of no objection certificate from the Urban Land Ceiling authorities and Income Tax clearance, injunction orders from the court not to register the property, want of spot inspection by the authorities and ambiguity in the schedule of the property shown in the documents.
There are 246 applications pending under section 47-A (parties differing over the market value) of which Banjara Hills sub registrar office recorded a high pendency of 75 applications. “In some cases the market value could have been entered wrongly because of which the market value of the particular property will vary from that of other surrounding properties. If such anomalies are brought to our notice in the drive we will consider the genuine cases and register the documents,” Mr Srinivasulu said.
Similarly, there are 90 documents where Income Tax clearance was not given earlier and 27 documents kept for want of inspections. With the government doing away with both the clauses, mandatory inspection and IT clearance, the document holders can now register their documents by paying the requisite fee. Of the 38 documents that have remained unregistered pending court cases, the officials are of the view that judgements were delivered in many cases but the same was not brought to the notice of the registration department. “If the dispute is with the department, the applicants can approach us settle and it in an amicable manner thus clearing the litigation,” the district registrar said.
The department also asked the document holders falling in the ULC category to produce the ULC clearance certificate or notice served on the ULC authorities with a clear time gap of two months. If the property owners have ULC regularisation under GOs 455 and 456, the order issued by the government regularising the ULC land can be produced for registering the document. “We have issued notices to all the document holders and people have started making enquiries. We will also host the details of the documents in the website,” Mr Srinivasulu said.

Srei hopes to bag Hyderabad Metro Rail project

Kolkata, Jan. 18 (PTI): Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd and its consortium has been shortlisted for the mega Rs 4300 crore integrated Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) in Hyderabad."The Srei-led consortium has been shortlisted by the Andhra Pradesh government for the Hyderabad metro rail project," Srei official spokesperson said.A total of 16 bidders had submitted an _expression of interest (EoI) and the deal is likely to be finalised by the month end.According to available information, two companies have been shortlisted but no official version could be got.The Srei consortium consists of Essar Construction, Singapore Technologies and SMRT Corporation.The project will select bidder on built, operate and transfer (BOT) basis and a total 59.45 kms will be covered in the first phase.The project would take almost three years to construct and implement the first two corridors and another two years for the third corridor.As per estimates 11.11 lakh commuters would use the MRTS per day in 2008, which will increase to 12.21 lakh commuters per day by 2011.The fare for the system was fixed at Re 1 per passenger per km for an initial distance below 2 km the fare is Rs 5 per passenger.The Andhra Pardesh government had contemplated launching MRTS to overcome the increasing pressure of population and transport bottlenecks.

Aero Park proposed near Shamshabad international airport

Special CorrespondentChief Minister pledges Government's full support to the ambitious project# Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurates the conference# Awards instituted by the Society for Aerospace Quality and Reliability presented# Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurates the conference# Some 100 units are expected in the proposed park with a total investment of over Rs. 250 crores# Awards instituted by the Society for Aerospace Quality and Reliability presentedHYDERABAD: An Aero Park, catering to aerospace and aeronautics requirements, is proposed to be established near the Hyderabad International Airport under the aegis of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Associations.This was stated by V. L. N. Reddy, president of the federation, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on "Quality and Reliability in aerospace systems and exhibition" here on Sunday.Earlier, inaugurating the meet, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy declared the Government's support to the aero park project after receiving a memorandum on the proposal. Welcoming the need for setting up the park, he said he was convinced that the Government should take the lead in this regard.Launch in a yearMr. V.L.N. Reddy said the project was expected to take off in a year's time and the details would be worked out with various government departments in about 10 days for allotment of 200 acres. Hyderabad had emerged as a major centre in the production of various components and sub-systems required for aerospace projects by more than 60 units, with an annual turnover of around Rs. 150 crores.He said that about 100 units were expected in the proposed park with a total investment of about Rs. 250-300 crores.Call to industryIn the memorandum, Mr. Reddy pointed to the huge growth opportunities for the aerospace and aeronautical industries in the country and said 70 per cent of MiG and SU-30 components and electronic sub-systems were being outsourced to industries, mostly in the State.The Chief Minister expressed confidence that the growth rate in all sectors would cross the double-digit mark in the near future and called upon the industry to be part of it. He urged more industries to set up units here.Later, he presented five awards instituted by the Society for Aerospace Quality and Reliability (SAQR).Tourism and Industries Minister J. Geetha Reddy later inaugurated an exhibition organised in connection with the event.Chief Controller (R&D), Defence Research and Development Organisation and president of the organising committee, V. K. Saraswat, said innovation would play a vital role for future systems, which would be required to have zero defect and least manual inspection.Prahlada, Chief Controller (R& D), DRDO, welcomed. Rajendra Prasad, chairman of the committee, spoke.

Metro development authority set to replace HUDA

Special CorrespondentChief Minister directs officials to work out details such as powers of new body# Decision emerges from review meet chaired by YSR# Formal announcement likely soon# To begin with, the metropolitan area will be extended up to Outer Ring RoadHYDERABAD: The Government is proposing to constitute a higher city planning body, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority replacing the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority to ensure proper growth of the twin cities and peripheral areas.A decision in this regard was taken at a review meeting on urban planning chaired by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy at the Secretariat here on Monday. It was attended by Municipal Administration Minister K. Ranga Rao and top officials of the department. Dr. Reddy asked officials to work out details, including powers and functions to be allotted to the new body. The Government is expected to announce the constitution of the new body soon.`Special efforts needed'The meeting felt such a body was required as Hyderabad has become a mega city like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in terms of the extent of the area under its jurisdiction and population. "It needs special efforts to see that there is systematic growth and civic amenities are provided accordingly.Metropolitan development authorities have already been formed for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata," Mr. Ranga Rao said. S. P. Singh, Principal Secretary, Municipal Adminitration, told The Hindu later that the under the proposal, assets of the HUDA, its establishments and staff would be shifted to the new body which would have more powers and functions in dealing with the "phenomenal growth" of the urban agglomeration.Initially, the plan was to extend the metropolitan area up to the Outer Ring Road presently under implementation.Mr. Singh said relevant legislations such as the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad Act and the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act would be amended suitably to facilitate the constitution of the "higher body."

Aztec Software to invest Rs 50 crore in Hyderabad

Our Regional Bureau / Hyderabad January 17, 2006
Bangalore-based Aztec Software will be investing Rs 50 crore in Hyderabad in the next three-four years.
The product engineering company is targeting a headcount of 1,500 in Hyderabad during the same period and may also set up a campus in the city in the near future.
Addressing the media, Srinivasan Chandrasekar, senior vice-president and head of India business, Aztec Software, said, “At present, we have a 250-seat centre in Hyderabad but we plan to have 1,500 people on our rolls in the city in the next three-four years. We will be investing Rs 50 crore for this purpose.”
With regard to setting up of a campus, Chandrasekar said that the company was looking at it but nothing had been finalised as yet.
Aztec Software employs close to 2,000 people globally and is looking at doubling the number within the next three-four years. The company may also look at the inorganic route to fuel its growth strategy.
According to V Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer and managing director of Aztec Software, “We have grown by 100 per cent this year and hope to continue with the growth momentum.”
“We will also be adding to our technology offerings by entering the wireless and embedded technologies space,” he added. Aztec Software’s service offerings include software product engineering, testing, quality engineering, and implementation engineering, with a technology focus on data management, web services, security and identity management etc.
The company earned revenues of $11.7 million in the third quarter of this financial year.
R&D as product engineering market was expected to grow to around $12 billion by 2010 and Aztec was looking at grabbing a significant portion of this pie, Chandrasekaran said.

Huda may double land service fees

Hyderabad, Jan. 17: The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority is all set to enhance the fees collected with regard to formation of layouts and construction of buildings, increasing the burden on the average property-buyer. Officials said that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy gave the go-ahead to Huda’s proposals during his meeting on Monday with officials of the municipal administration and urban development department and Huda. The Chief Minister approved the setting up of the Hyderabad Metro Development Authority during this meeting.
Officials secured Dr Reddy’s approval to enhance development charges both for land and built-up area. Officials are working out new rates, which could be at least double the existing rates. Officials told this correspondent that the Chief Minister did not specify the quantum of increase. Sources indicated that the development charges for land would be made above Rs 300 per square metre (sqm) and that of built-up area to Rs 100-Rs 125 per sqm. Sources said the officials were also considering increase in the processing fee of Rs 5 per sqm but no final decision had been taken yet.
Currently, Huda collects a maximum of Rs 125 per sqm towards development charges for land and Rs 40 per sqm for built-up area. “It will work out to be Rs 12.5 per square feet (sft) and Rs 4 per sft respectively. Builders have been collecting Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per sft for apartments,” the officials are believed to have told the Chief Minister.
Huda vice-chairman and managing director Jayesh Ranjan told this correspondent that the increase would not be across the board. It would vary from panchayats in Huda limits to municipal areas and those falling in MCH limits. Mr Rajan said that the hike could not wait till the formation of the HMDA. “They are two separate things. It will take some time for HMDA to materialise as it requires an amendment to the Act. We will go ahead with enhancement of development fees,” Mr Rajan said. “The rates have remained unchanged for more than a decade and we can see how the land rates have shot up,” Huda chairman D. Sudheer Reddy said.

Government allots land to 11 IT companies

Six firms may create job opportunities for 21,000 in HydOur Regional Bureau / Hyderabad January 11, 2006The Andhra Pradesh government has allotted 65 acres of land to six IT companies in the proposed software SEZ at Popalguda near Hyderabad.Apart from this, the government has allotted 10 acres of land to Zen Technologies Limited in the hardware park near the upcoming international airport. Similarly, the state government has given 13 acres of land to five companies in Visakhapatnam.Disclosing this here today, Ratna Prabha, secretary, IT & communications, said the MoUs with all these companies would be signed on the basis of their proposed investment and employment potential.The companies that have secured land to set up their own facilities in Hyderabad include Cbay Systems (India) Private Limited, Patni Computer Systems Private Limited, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Sonata Software Limited, DQ Entertainment Limited and Conexant.Patni Computers, which has promised to provide over 10,000 jobs with a proposed investment of Rs 160 crore at its Hyderabad facility, has got 30 acres while six companies have got land ranging between three acres and 11 acres.According to Ratna Prabha, the combined investment proposed by these six companies in Hyderabad is Rs 405 crore while the projected employment figure is about 21,000.The land allotted to companies in Vizag include IIC Systems Private Limited, IIC Technologies Limited, Metaminds Software Solutions Private Limited and Infotech Enterprises Limited. The combined investment proposed by these five companies is Rs 42.9 crore and the projected number of jobs is 1,300, the IT secretary said.

AP to setup 1200cr hardware park

AFTER years of focus on software services and ITES companies, the State Government is now turning attention to the hardware sector. The State Government has identified 1,200 acres of land for promoting the hardware sector to woo companies, along with plans to locate few special economic zones for IT companies. The Chief Minister Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said this separate facility would be complemented with support infrastructure that would attract companies to look at Andhra Pradesh for setting up hardware facilities. Speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day Gitex expo, the fifth edition of the flagship IT event here today, Dr Reddy said the State believes that its focus on strengthening infrastructure such as airport, outer ring road and creation of special zones while providing dedicated supply of power, would help woo more companies and thereby help the State scale up from the current fifth slot in overall IT and ITES exports. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has initiated work on the Rs 3,000-crore outer ring road project, and work on the satellite townships would begin shortly. This, coupled with the focus on strengthening the manpower base, would be a compelling proposition for IT companies. The ongoing initiatives will be complemented by an international airport and a Metro Rail System, to be completed within 3-4 years, making Hyderabad an ideal destination for both software and hardware. Even though the State churns out a large number of engineers and is a base for talent pool, all of them are not industry ready. This calls for special focus on fine-tuning their skills. The Jawahar Knowledge Centres seek to bridge this gap. IBM has also partnered with the Jawahar Knowledge Centres providing software and tools and valuable inputs and the contributions of companies like Satyam Computer Services Ltd, in reaching out education, and also locating remote processing centres in noteworthy. "We expect soon other companies would follow suit," he said....

Patni’s Rs 500cr facility for city

Hyderabad, Jan. 11: Patni Computer Systems Ltd. will be setting up a campus in Hyderabad to expand its telecommunications software, and other verticals, development, Neeraj Gupta, head of Patni’s telecom business unit, said on Wednesday. Speaking to this newspaper after signing an MoU with the State government for the campus, Mr Gupta said Patni Computer Systems would be investing Rs 500 crores in the Hyderabad operations in a phased manner.
The State government has allocated 30 acres of land for Patni’s campus at Pappalguda outside Hyderabad. “Patni currently has 250 people at the Hyderabad centre, following the acquisition of Cymbal Corporation in November 2004. Cymbal had a strong presence in the telecommunications space, and development centres in Hyderabad and Pune. We have completed the integration of Cymbal’s operations with Patni,” Mr Gupta said.
Patni Computer Systems had acquired Cymbal Corporation, of which Mr Gupta had been CEO, in November 2004, for US $68 million. While Patni paid $35 million in cash on the date of acquisition, $33 million is to be paid over three years based on meeting projected revenue and profit targets. “The Hyderabad centre of Patni will focus on the niche telecommunications software, but we will be setting up services for other verticals as well.”

AP wants to pip Bangalore in race for more IT exports

Hyderabad, Jan. 11: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Wednesday exhorted software exporters from Andhra Pradesh to catch up with their Karnataka counterparts. Speaking at the inauguration of the Gitex India 2006 technology exhibition here, Dr Reddy said, “The target for 2006 is to better 65 per cent growth in IT exports from the State that we had last fiscal. The target this year should be 70 per cent.”
“And if we fail to achieve that,” Dr Reddy said, turning to minister of IT and mines, Sabita Indra Reddy, secretary K. Ratna Prabha and Satyam Computer Services Ltd. chairman, B. Ra-malinga Raju, “our endeavour would have failed.”
Software companies in the State would indeed require some hard work to play catch-up with Karnataka, given that Karnataka recorded exports of Rs 28,000 crores in 2004-05, compared to AP’s Rs 8,270 crores. Apart from Hyderabad, Dr Reddy has also been promoting so-called “Tier II” cities like Vizag, Vijayawada and Nellore among the technology industry. The strategy ap-pears to have found takers, with seven companies, who signed MoUs with the State government on Wednesday, planning to set up units in Vizag.
A total of 16 IT companies, including Patni Computer Systems, Intelligroup, and Cognizant have signed MoUs with the government. The 16 companies would be investing Rs 657 crores in their proposed campuses, creating jobs for 34,417 people. Apart from this, Dr Reddy said plans were afoot to set up a 1200 acre hardware SEZ for attracting investments from the hardware majors. According to him, “The hardware sector was neglected till now, but with the SEZ we hope to fulfil the dem-ands of hardware companies.”
Meanwhile, Satyam with exports of Rs 1821 crore in 2004-05, Wipro Ltd. (Rs 972 crore) and Microsoft India (Rs 802 crore) were awarded for being the top three exporters in the IT sector instituted by the State government. The fifth edition of Gitex India 2006 includes a consumer electronics and technology exhibition for the public. In an effort to encourage more participation, the State government has offered a four per cent VAT refund to the ex-hibitors, which can be passed on to consumers, the organisers said.

Inner Ring Road constructed by Dubai based firm

New company formed in AP to handle the infrastructure and new developments.
The Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh
http://www.incap.co.in