The swanky buildings that house the global information technology firms in Cyberabad evoke comparisons with Silicon Valley.
TEXT: LEANDRA MONTEIRO
Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy City (Hitec City) or Cyberabad is a popular IT hub of Hyderabad housing some of the most renowned IT companies. The highly-paid IT workforce has powered a boom in real-estate with world class social infrastructure coming up in this tech-township in the heart of Hyderabad.
The project was initiated by Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation with participation of private infrastructure companies. The area comprises IT parks such as L&T Infocity, Hitech City 2 SEZ, Vanenburg IT Park, Mindspace Cyberabad SEZ, DLF IT SEZ, Tech Mahindra IT SEZ, TCS Synergy Park IT SEZ, SEZs of Infosys and Wipro. Other than the IT sector, the market growth is also driven by the presence of industries such as pharmaceutical, BFSI, electronics and biotech among others.
Spread over 200 acres of land under suburbs of Gachibowli, Madhapur, Manikonda, Kondapur, and Nanakramguda, Cyberabad is within two kilometres of the commercial and residential suburb of Jubilee Hills. The location is well-connected to a number of developed areas and various hotels, hospitals, educational institutions, banks and recreational avenues via an excellent network of railways and roadways.
The hanging bridge over Durgam Cheruvu by the government has improved the connectivity from Jubilee hills. The Begumpet airport is just 15 km away from Hitech City and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is about 35 km. In addition investors can expect a good percentage of appreciation once the Metro is operational.
THE FIRST IT HUB IN INDIA
The city saw a sudden burst in investments in 2018, attracting more than $1.1 billion of private equity, a more than three-fold increase in investments compared to the collective previous three year period. The main reason for the increased activity was the favourable business environment and the presence of multi-tenanted as well as Built-to-suit (BTS) facilities to cater to all segments including small & medium enterprises.
Bijay Agarwal, MD, Salarpuria Sattva Group shares, “Our flagship project, Knowledge City set up on an expansive 172-acre land along the IT corridor of Hyderabad, is furnished with state-of-the-art infrastructure and amenities. It is spread across 30 acres, with 6 mega towers. Some of the major names in the industry have set up their offices at Knowledge City including JP Morgan Chase, Synchrony Financial, Microsoft, EPAM, Xilinx, and KPMG. In addition, we have collaborated with Telangana government for a 2 million sq. ft. project called The IMAGE (Innovation in animation, Multimedia, Gaming, and Entertainment) Towers. The commercial property is first of its kind in India will cater to the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector.”
Some of the ongoing projects in Cyberabad include, Jain Ravi Gayatri Heights, Marina Skies, Vishnu Vistara, My Home Bhooja, Sumukhi Orbit, Lodha Majesto, Aditys Capitol Heights, Vaishnavi Nirvana, Vamriram Jyothi Cosmos, Magnas Lake View, Apex Hitex Pride, Trishala The Life, NVR Sree Sainatha Towers and Vasantha City. Lodha Codename 520D, Ashoka Patel Residency and Vasavi Shreemukh Namitha Homes are the upcoming projects in Cyberabad.
WINDS OF CHANGE
This satellite City is considered a prime location in Hyderabad, as the major percentage in real estate market is driven by the IT professionals. The residential real estate here is more promising for investment than its counterparts in Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune as the present property prices are relatively low.
The remarkable growth in realty sector primarily due to the increasing industrial and IT developments have accelerated the need for housing in the locality. Owing to a consistent increase in population, developers have introduced a lot of projects in the region from luxury to small sized reasonably priced homes targeting IT employees.
All major realty reports indicate that Cyberabad will reach the top of Commercial space absorption in the country and has more real estate potential than many of the other cities in India. The organic growth of existing big companies as well as new companies opening up, will continue to see an upward trend, leading to overall optimism for the foreseeable future.
The foremost reason for emergence of Cyberabad as the commercial realty destination is the supportive government policies, business friendly environment, competitive property prices and robust infrastructure growth.
