Hyderabad’s IT profile is dominated by ITeS. While application software, enterprise resource planning and IT consultancy services contribute significant muscle to the frame, ITeS is the main prop. Experts say this is not necessarily bad; it will serve as a base for the future pyramid.
Hyderabad’s IT figures tell the story of a boom town on the make. It would go something like this: Counting 860 operating units, another 200 in gestation and about 460 delisted IT units, there are a whopping 1,520 IT and ITeS units in AP, most of them in its capital, Hyderabad. Powered by a favourable policy regime, these figures are all set to scale up enormously, according to industry experts.
Bangalore and the National Capital Region (NCR) may at present be miles ahead of Hyderabad in terms of software capacities and outsourcing opportunities. Hyderabad has always been aware of the factors that took those cities to where they are. For well over 10 years, it has been hard at work acquiring those very synergies for itself and today it is on the verge of attaining critical mass. Software exports from AP as a whole were a mere Rs 60 crore in 1995-96. They soared to Rs 5,025 crore by last year. Since 1995 the growth rate has been more than 100% for eight consecutive years. The number of professionals engaged in software export has grown to 76,820. Another 10,000 support staff are involved in running these IT companies. In 2003-04, the state saw a capital investment of Rs 684 crore from foreign and outstation companies, about 80% of it sown in Hyderabad. Of the total outsourcing pie in Hyderabad, ITeS companies share a major slice of 46.70%, while application software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and IT consultancy services take 10.50%, 9.37% and 4.25% respectively.
In spite of the depressed market conditions during 2000-2003, Hyderabad-based IT companies clocked a growth rate of 81% in 2000-2001, 42% in 2001-2002, and 26% in 2002-2003. Last year, 2003-2004, the growth rate was 37%, still well above the national average.
Talk about global reach? Currently international fibre optic/satellite links are available from Hyderabad to the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan.
The city is high on exploring new opportunities, technology upgradation and value-added services too. With big names in IT and a number of outstation Indian companies setting up shop in the city and many more MNCs evincing interest in doing so, critical mass is just a click away.
