The Pre-Economic Reforms Phase/Metropolitan Phase (1948-1991)

• After a short period of time under the statehood of Hyderabad, the take-off to Metropolitan phase for Hyderabad city started with the formation of the State of (erstwhile) Andhra Pradesh, in A.D. 1956. In fact it was during this phase Hyderabad city crossed the 1 million mark (in A.D, 195l) and, thus, started a new era of Metropolitan phase for the city.
• Many Indian premier public enterprises, during this period, BHEL, NMDC, HMT, BEL, IDPL, ECIL, DRDO and HAL were established in Hyderabad, changing the economical pattern of the city from a traditional manufacturing to a cosmopolitan industrial service sector.
• The industrial estate of Sanathnagar which had come up in 1940 but was almost deserted by 1955 was rejuvenated and together with Musheerabad, became two main industrial nuclei of large and medium industries of die twin cities. This industrial sector has grown enormously and, during this period, these were four distinct clusters of large and medium scale industrial units in Hyderabad. They were;
  1. The Azamabad Industrial Area, the oldest in the city.
  2. The Balanagar-Sanath Nagar- Kukatpally industrial cluster which had a variety of industrial and consumer units like refrigerators, pharmaceutical products, machine components, soft drinks, etc, the important ones being Allwyn, H.M.T., LD.PL., H.A.L. and others
  3. The Moula-Ali-Nacharam-Uppal industrial area had important industrial units like the EC Warner Hindustan Limited, N.EC., etc.
  4. The Ramachandrapuram – Patancheru Industrial cluster which had B.H.E.L. (one of the biggest public sector units located in Hyderabad), I.C.R.LS.A.L., etc.

The Chandulal Baradari industrial estate did come up in 1963 in the southern half, outside Fateh Darwaza. But this industrial estate consisted mostly of small scale industries and only a few medium scale indus- tries manufacturing steel & metal sheets, chemicals & pigments, utility articles, etc., could employ only a few hundred people.

The municipal corporation boundary (erstwhile MCH limits) of twin cities, by the year 1991, covered an area of 194.25 km. The traditional trend of Hyderabad city growth either in East-West or South-North was changed to four new directions towards;

1. The North- West i.e., from the Sanath Nagar-Balanagar-Kukatpally area towards Ramachandrapuram Patancheru industrial nucleus.
2. The North-East i.e., from Bolarum to Moula Ali and Nacharam.
3. The South-East i.e., from Dilsukhnagar to Hayathnagar along the Vijayawada highway.
4. The South-West i.e., towards Rajendranagar

• Apart from IT industry, Pharmaceutical industry, which largely concentrated in the North-Western part of the city, also enhanced its economic share and soon became the prime region in India for pharmaceuticals production and exports. With the inflow of investment into software development projects and IT enabled Services (ITES), the allied industries such as the Hotel, Transport, Construction, Communication, Tourism and Modem Services also caught the momentum which ignited the real estate boom in Hyderabad city.
• Later on (after 2004-05), the erstwhile state administrators also made some significant efforts in the aspect Of city administration and infrastructure development. It was during this period the GHMC (in 2007), a governing body of Hyderabad in place of erstwhile MCH, and HMDA (in 2008), a planning body replacing erstwhile HUDA, were constituted. Construction of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) near Shamshabad, towards the South of the city was completed in 2008. Some of the mega Infrastructure projects in and around Hyderabad such as Jawaharlal Nehru Outer Ring Road (JN-ORR), Sri P.V. Narasimha Expressway (PVNREW) was undertaken. Numerous Special Economic Zones (SEZs) also were consti- tuted in and around Hyderabad which also played a key role on the city’s economy as well asPost Globalization phase/Global Megapolis Phase (A.D. 1991 onwards)
• With a landmark decision to bring economic reforms in India, which saw major economic policy shifts towards Liberalization, Privatisation and Globalization formulated during the period directly or indirectly. Transforming Hyderabad into a global city. As a result of new policy of economic globalization, Hyderabad received maximum benefit which in turn, restructured the total shape of the city both in terms of its economy and urban structure.
• Administrators of the erstwhile A.P. state grabbed the opportunity at early stages, and realized Hyderabad as an alternative destination, after Bengaluru for Information Technology (IT) industry. Hyderabad’s modern replica, Cyber towers (the first phase of HITEC City) at Madhapur, one of the major IT clusters of India, was inaugurated with a foundation stone laid, in A.D, 1991. Development of transport infrastructure, espe- cially Inner Ring Road (TRR) well supported with flyovers at various locations, significantly contributed for the growth of the city.
• morphology The Special Economic Zones (SEZS) which were intended for providing required infrastructure along with sizeable land space and tax incentives for the Manufacturing Corporates to set up their units in a particu- lar area also have their part on the city in a number of ways.
• Hyderabad UA population which stood at 43,44,437 in the year 1991 increased to 57,42,036 in 2001 with a growth rate of 32% and, by the year 201 l it further increased to 77,49,334, with a decadal growth rate of35 percent. It implies, though there was an increase during 2001-11, the urban growth rate of the city reached its stabilization stage and current trend suggest the pace of urban growth in and around Hyderabad is in sync with the national standard urban growth rate which stood at 31 % as per 2011 census.
• With an increase of I3.97.599 populations from 1991 to 2001 the city attracted population mainly into the surrounding outgrowth areas of 1991, making them densely populated.
• Hyderabad has seen a huge urban population increase during 2001 -11 in which 20,07,298 persons were added (the highest throughout the census history of Hyderabad),
• After a long gap, the southern part of the city could significantly extend its geographical limits during the period (2001-11) which witnessed stagnation during previous phases, significantly growing especially along the National highway, NH-44. This may be largely attributed to the newly established international airport (2007) at Shamshabad which lies towards the south of the city and also due to the newly allotted industrial corridor in this region extending in the areas of Maheshwaram, Shamshabad, Kothur, Adibatla etc. The growth rate between 2001 and 2011 also hint at traces of new expansion of the city Growth beyond GHMC boundaries i.e., in the rest ofHyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) areas.
• It is estimated that the projected population ofHyderabad Metropolitan area crossed 10 million (ferore) mark in 2014 and Hyderabad UA would increase its population to 12 crores by the year 2030 which also indicates the stage was set for Megapolis or Mega City’ phase for Hyderabad.
• The newly formed Telangana state government took no time to review the progress of Hyderabad city as it already announced the government’s policy and vision for making Hyderabad a top class global city. The actions taken in this regards by the new government are at various stages of their implementation that include,
  1. Development of Transport infrastructure – expansion of Metro Rail networks in Twin cities (first phase nearly completed), construction of multi-level flyovers/sky way/transit corridors (at planning stage) around Hyderabad to ease traffic pressure and smooth flow of vehicles in the city.
  2. Development of Industrial Infrastructure – with a global vision, to match the needs of world & domes- tic markets, the T.S. government has introduced a unique industrial policy which offers an online single window system (T-iPASS) for the investors
  3. Effective Monitoring and Policing – a visionary urban policing system was already introduced with provision of high tech/speed vehicles to the city police of Hyderabad. A never before surveillance with 1 lakh CC cameras is being implemented for which a central command station in the mammoth multi-storeyed twin towers, at Banjara Hills, is under construction.
  4. Supply of Electricity on Continuous Basis- for decades under erstwhile A.P. administration, supply of electricity to the city both for residential and industrial sector, had been a big problem which often resulted in factory lock-outs during the peak demand hours. This situation was completely changed .Genius Publications within one year under the new T. S. government. Now, since 2015, the city is being supplied with electricity for both the sectors on a continuous basis.
  5. Supply of Safe Drinking Water- one of the major problems of Hyderabad, prior to formation of Telangana, was provision of drinking water on continuous basis. The new government has already started ample measures to provide drinking water for twin cities on a daily basis for which water from Godavari and Krishna rivers is being brought in a phase wise manner.
  6. Development of Green Infrastructure – in addition to the already existing green infrastructure that includes City Level Parks, Colony, Parks, Theme Parks, Central & Road Medians- developed under various urban authorities of Hyderabad viz., MCH(erstwhile), GHMC, HMDA etc. The state govern- ment undertook massive tree plantation programs, to raise the standards of city environment, through Haritha Haram’ and Green Curtain’ programs through which 50 lakh seedlings are to be planted and around 1000 Km² of green cover to be developed in Hyderabad metropolitan area.

Governance and Demographics in Hyderabad

• Hyderabad city may be studied on a variety of urban categories and at present there are at least three such urban bodies pertaining to the city, viz., the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).