Ever since the 1990s, Andhra Pradesh had been promoting itself as a world class IT location and Hyderabad City, as a result, has managed to attract investment from companies such as IBM, Oracle and Microsoft. The Hyderabad Technology Park has seen hundreds of IT companies registering themselves as soon as spaces are available.
The first IT tower in Hyderabad, known as Intergraph, was established in Begumpet in 1986.
Chandrababu Naidu spearheaded the initiation of the Software Industry in Hyderabad in 1995.
HITEC City, also called Cyberabad, was developed in collaboration with Larsen & Toubro under Naidu’s leadership.
Naidu coined the slogans “Bye Bye Bangalore” and “Hello Hyderabad” during his tenure, aiming to attract international companies like Microsoft, CA Technologies, and Deloitte.
Naidu successfully persuaded Bill Gates to establish a Microsoft development center in Hyderabad, the first such center set up by Microsoft outside the USA.
Naidu focused on bringing biotechnology companies to Hyderabad and established Genome Valley, a high-tech park launched in 1999 through a public-private partnership.
The infrastructure for an international airport and an outer ring road was planned under Naidu’s leadership.
E. Shaw & Co. became the first multinational company to open its office in Hyderabad in 1996.
The objective of this elaborate promotional program has been to attract the right number of companies which together would form a critical mass for the city to develop as a high tech city which would rub shoulders with Silicon Valley and Malaysia’s MultiMedia Super Corridor.
During the nineties, several initiatives were taken up by the state government towards promotion of the IT sector. These included setting up of IT training institutes, initiatives in e-governance, development of a Hi-Tech city and promoting the Software Technology Park as a preferred destination for private sector companies.
Steps were then taken even further to allow the development of a Hardware Park, creation of a Knowledge Park, and establishment of a financial district. The state government started tapping resources to invest in the biotechnology sector and, as a first step towards making the region specialized, a Biotech Park was introduced.
