Hyderabad, capital of newly formed state Telangana, is fast emerging as the most preferred IT city. State IT Minister KT Rama Rao announced via Tweets that Google has agreed to build their largest campus outside US in Hyderabad at an investment of Rs 1000 crore. This is will the first such campus in Asia where an area of 2 million square feet would be developed to house 6500 to 13000 employees in the next 4 years.
He Tweeted: “First campus in Asia. 2 million sq ft space would be built. Investment of Rs 1,000 crore and in four years employee size to double from 6,500 to 13,000,”
As per officials, a MoU was signed between Vice president, real estate & workplace at Google, David Radcliffe, and Telangana IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Few days back, Flipkart had created ripples across the IT industry when they announced that they have 2 million square feet of commercial space leased for 20 years in Bangalore. This is India’s single biggest lease for office space, which can accommodate more than 20,000 employees. Flipkart will pay Rs 50 per square feet, per month for this property.
Google Street View in Hyderabad: 1st Indian City
Additionally, Hyderabad will now become the first Indian city to be covered by Google Street View. Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao, who is in a visit to USA, met Google Street View team: Manik Gupta, director of product management and Narayana Tummala, ground truth engineering lead for Google and convinced them for this opportunity.
However, Google made it clear that they can start mapping the city using Google Street View only after the Union Ministry provides the required permissions. .
Google said in a statement, “”Upon the request made by the minister, Google has agreed to make Telangana the first state which will get Street View for one complete city namely Hyderabad to begin with, with subsequent extension to other major cities and towns”
Google had started mapping Bangalore for showcasing the city via Google Street View in 2011, but after the objection of the Central Govt., had to backtrack. However, Tourism Department allowed Google to capture major historical locations, and currently Google Street View is being used extensively by both Indians and foreign tourists.
Tourism Ministry has even launched an Android app which used Google Street View features to showcase India’s most popular monuments.
Hyderabad: The Best IT City In India?
After convincing Google to build their largest campus (outside US) in Hyderabad, and making it the first Indian city to have Google Street View, Hyderabad is well on its way to claim the status of best IT city in India.
Earlier we had reported that Hyderabad has been declared as the Indian city which provides best quality of living in India, beating Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. And, it is also included in the top 4 list of cities which attract the best tech talent as well. What’s more
Microsoft has already built their largest software development center outside US in Hyderabad.
Now, it’s high time that Bangalore & Chennai does something drastically different to change the perception of global IT biggies: Hyderabad may soon be invincible!
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