Travel start-ups create a buzz in Hyderabad

Source: Times of India   Dt: 20.7.16

At least 10 such start-ups have come up in last one year alone

HYDERABAD: Travel start-upshave turned out to be a hit across the country, and Hyderabad, for its part, has churned out a handful of such niche firms. The city is home to at least 10 travel-based start-ups that have come up in the last one year alone.

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Rahul Verma, cofounder of Tripmatic, decided to create an app to preserve travel memories while he was holidaying in south east Asia last year. The app uses information such as geo-location, dates, time and photos to help other travellers get a better picture of places they want to head to. "I feel travel agents often do not present correct data. Pictures shown are many a times artificially beautified. So, I thought of a simple way of showing a travel destination through the eyes of a traveller," said Verma. The app currently has 700 users, four months into its launch. Other apps such as Travelkhushi provide travel accessories including slippers, travel bags and customised travel kits (such as shaving kits) to people. "In India, travel accessories are largely undiscovered and have a lot of potential. Our model is to deliver easily-packed travel requirements in limited quantities at touch points during the journey," said founder Vishal Chakravarthy, a 27-year-old MBA graduate.

Experts say travel-based start-ups have caught on fast in the city. "There are an increasing number of start-ups and the good thing is they do not follow the herd mentality. A few of them are doing very well, aimed at addressing some identified problems," said Ramesh Loganathan, start-up mentor at T Hub and member, incubator board, IIT-Hyderabad.

Omitra, an app-based city start-up, has been connecting people with similar interests during long train journeys. The app has around 45,000 users and will add a food aggregating service to allow users to choose food delivery options from various hotels across 300 cities during their journey. "With the food aggregating service and train updates on the app, we have started getting advertising revenue," said Vikas Jagetiya, 35, the app's founder.

Groupila, another startup, allows users to choose between five verticals of interests. Started two months ago, users can choose how to spend their time from a range of events, activities, getaways, choices of food and drink, as well as interesting places to be explored in the city. The founders, Satish Sharma and Praneeth Chinta, discovered that the market for the app was big. "We realised that the market starts from 15-year-olds to 50-yearolds and with increasing incomes, people want to have more and more experiences," said Sharma.

Cisco to Take Up Pilot Project for Hyderabad Smart City

Source: Indo-Asian News Service, NDTV. Dt: 21.7.16

Cisco Systems, a global major in planning, designing and implementing smart cities, and its technology solutions partner Paradigm Mtuity, will implement a pilot project under Hyderabad Smart City.

The Telangana government, Cisco and Mtuity have come together to plan Hyderabad Smart City by identifying relevant technology interventions/use cases.

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Under the memorandum of understanding signed with the state government here on Thursday, the two companies will implement the pilot project near the bustling Hitech City to showcase real benefit of implementing smart solutions and the impact of technology on society and human well-being.

The MoU was signed by the officials of the state government and representatives of the two companies in the presence of Telangana's Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao.

Cisco India MD Purushottam Kaushik, Telangana's IT SEcretary Jayesh Ranjan, and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)Commissioner Janardhan Reddy were present at the MoU signing.

"In due course of time, the results of the pilot phase will be carefully studied by key government officials to advise Cisco and Mtuity on the technology interventions/use cases most relevant for bigger expansion across multiple pockets of Hyderabad city," a government statement said on Thursday.

The use cases proposed to be implemented during the pilot project include smart Wi-Fi, smart parking, enforcement to detect no-parking violations, smart lighting, smart transport, smart kiosks, remote expert governance services, citizen services portal and citizen app.

In April, another MoU was signed by the state government with the two companies to foster innovation in Internet of Things and Smart Cities.

Tata STRIVE launches skill development centre in Hyderabad

Source: Times of India  18.7.16

Hyderabad, July 18 (IANS) The first Tata STRIVE Skill Development Centre (TSSDC) centre was launched here on Monday.

Spread over 17,000 square feet, this state-of-the-art centre will skill youth in Telangana in the BPO, banking, financial services, insurance and retail industries.Tata STRIVE, an initiative of Tata Community Initiatives Trust, and the first Group CSR programme of the Tata group, addresses the need of skilling youth for employment, entrepreneurship and community enterprise.

The facility was inaugurated by state Information Technology and Industries Minister K. Taraka Rama Rao along with Madhu Kannan, Member-Group Executive Council, and Group Head for business development and public affairs, Tata Sons, and Anita Rajan, COO, Tata STRIVE and Vice President, Tata Sustainability Group.

With the mission to build capacity to train youth for employment, entrepreneurship and community enterprise, Tata STRIVE transforms youth into an employee/entrepreneur through behaviour change, knowledge acquisition and skill development, said a statement.

Located at Kukatpally, the centre has ten classrooms/labs which can accommodate up to 240 studentsAat any given time. The training programmes range from 6 to16 weeks, and includes on-the-job training. At the end of the course, successful candidates are presented with a certificate, which is recognised by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and is aligned with various Sector Skill Councils and Tata STRIVE standards. These candidates are also assisted to get livelihood opportunities.

Tata STRIVE is present in 13 Indian states across 70 centres through partner centres as well as Tata STRIVE Skill Development Centres in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Mohali, Pune and Aligarh.

Fractal, InRhythm to be anchor units at Hyderabad data analytics park

Source: the hindu business line
HYDERABAD, JULY 8:  

A dedicated Big Data Analytics Park is coming up in Hyderabad over an area of 50 acres. Fractal Analytics, founded by Srikanth Velamakanni, and Pittsburgh (US)-based InRhythm, are going to be the anchor units at the Park.

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"We are trying to build an ecosystem for Big Data Analytics companies. We have signed agreements with the two companies in this regard. We are going to establish this Park near the Data Centre Campus that we are planning to set up," Telangana IT and Industry Minister K T Rama Rao has said.

Under the agreement signed last year, InRhythm agreed to groom talent in Big Data Analytics, the sunrise industry that holds huge promise.

"We would like to locate the Park outside the IT hub of Gachibowli in order to decongest the area and expand the growth of the IT industry into other parts of the city," he said, on the sidelines of an event where inaugurated development centre of Jade Global here on Friday.

With a view to providing financial help to the small and medium enterprises in the IT sector, the government is planning to establish a fund in the public-private partnership.

"There are some agencies like SIDBI that provide financial help to the SMEs. But there's none to support to the SMEs in the IT sector. We are considering a plan to help set up such a fund that can provide loans at lower interest rates and free of hassles," he said.

The government will establish a dedicated signature tower for IT SMEs in the IT Hub of Madhapur. "It is likely to come up at Rayadurg and will provide physical and IT infrastructure for small and medium firms," he said.

US infotech firm Jade Global opens facility in Hyderabad

Source: Indiatoday & PTI  8.7.2016

Hyderabad, Jul 8 (PTI) US-based Jade Global Software today launched a mid-enterprise IT services facility here, and said it has chalked out aggressive growth plans to reach its target of USD 100 million revenue by March 2021.

The facility was inaugurated by Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao along with Karan Yaramada, CEO of Jade Global.

"This new 11,000 sq ft facility will help Jade ramp up its focus in the areas of analytics and information management (AIM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), managed services (MS), technology and engineering services (TES) and customer relationship management (CRM)," a company release said.

"We are essentially investing heavily towards enhancing our existing offerings and adding new facilities that will help ramp up our IT services to our growing list of mid-size enterprises worldwide.

"We are starting our Hyderabad centre with a capacity of 100 employees now. In the next five years, our goal is to increase this number by five-fold," Yaramada said.

"We recently closed a deal with large Germany-based automobile company in India to automate their business processes. This deal will bolster our growth in the domestic market as we increase efforts to expand our client base in the Indian market."

"With current revenues of USD 30 million, Jade Global has chalked out aggressive growth plans to reach its target of USD 100 million revenue by March 2021," he said.

"Currently, we generate about 40 per cent of total revenue from our India operations. Our plan is to increase the revenue contribution to 60 per cent in the next two years."

Recently Jade Global established its footprint in Europe with a new office in the UK. "We are adding people everyday across three continents to augment our growth and expand our 600-member global IT Innovation team," Yaramada said.

San Jose, California-based Jade Global is an advisory, integration, testing, cloud & consulting services, business solutions and IT outsourcing company. PTI VVK RSY SMJ

Frankly speaking: No impact of Amaravati on Hyderabad realty

Source: The Hans India  8.7.16

Hyderabad: Contrary to the prevailing perception in some quarters, global property consultancy major Knight Frank is of the firm view that Amaravati, the proposed new capital city of Andhra Pradesh, would not have any adverse impact on the growth of the real estate sector in Hyderabad.

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The London-based firm which operates in India through its subsidiary Knight Frank India is now in the process of bringing out a comprehensive report on the realty sector – both residential and commercial – in Amaravati in a month and so. 

Recently, it released 'India Real Estate H1 2016', a half-yearly report on the performance of the real estate sector in eight major cities of the country, including Hyderabad. "Hyderabad has already moved into a league of its own and is among the top eight cities in the country. 

So, we don't see the development of Amaravati leaving any adverse impact on the city's real estate sector," Vasudevan Iyer, Branch Director-Hyderabad, Knight Frank India, told The Hans India.
According to him, the real estate markets in Hyderabad and Bangalore started at around the same time. 

"At present, Bangalore is absorbing 10-12 million square feet (sft) of space every year, while in Hyderabad it has gone up to 5 million sft from 3 million sft. By the time Amaravati gets right ecosystem for the development of real estate, the Hyderabad market will expand to 6 million sft of construction space that will be absorbed every year. So, Hyderabad will be five to seven years ahead of Amaravati at any given point of time," he explained. 

Iyer pointed out the lack of malls and other requisite infrastructure in Amaravati, which, he said, could have a bearing on the growth of both commercial and residential property there. "However, Amaravati will definitely have its own market. 

As an organisation, we strongly believe that Amaravati will spring up and there is a very good chance of the city going up. It's going to be a beautiful city," he observed. He further said that Knight Frank would come out with a special report on Amaravati soon. 

"We are going to come out with a specific report on Amaravati in the next one-and-a-half months. We would like to address all the issues in the report," Iyer said.

By: P Madhusudhan Reddy

HYDERABAD BEATS METROPOLITAN CITIES IN DEMAND FOR OFFICE SPACE: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

Source: Sakshi Business 5.7.16 

Hyderabad: At a time when metropolitan cities are suffering from either modest or decline in demand for office space, Hyderabad is leading the country as commercial space requirement is rising significantly.

During the first half (H1) of 2016, Hyderabad recorded a whopping growth of 55 percent during the first half thanks to the efforts of Telangana government for creating infrastructure and framing an industry-friendly TSiPASS. During the period, the net demand for office space across eight cities fell 18 percent.

According to a latest report by real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield, the Telangana government's efforts to create more visibility for 'Brand Hyderabad' in fact generated more demand for office space in H1 2016. During the past two years, Telangana government has succeeded in improving the business climate in the State and more particularly Hyderabad.

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As a result, Hyderabad witnessed more demand for office space to the tune of 2.9 msf (million square feet), a 55 percent increase when compared with the corresponding period in 2015.

The report observed that competitive rentals in the city, quality infrastructure and a proactive government are major attractions for global companies for setting up offices in the city.

Cushman & Wakefield in its reports further forecasts that Hyderabad continues to witness a strong demand for office space from the IT-ITeS sector. Three global majors accounted for office space of 7.89msft during the first half. The top three transactions during the first half of 2016 came from Amazon with 3.5 lakh sft in Madhapur, Value Labs with 2.25 lakh sft in Gachibowli and JP Morgan with 2.14 lakh sft in Madhapur.

During the first half of 2016, Chennai suffered a steepest fall of 51 percent in net absorption to 0.6 msf, while Bengaluru's net absorption fell by 34 percent to 4.5 msf. Overall, the net absorption of office space declined by 18 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) at 14.5 msf across the top eight cities.

The first half of the year was marked by unavailability of quality Grade A space in many cities. Other cities recorded small-sized deals during the first half. This caused a steep fall in the overall net absorption. Delhi - NCR recorded a growth of 39 percent, Ahmedabad witnessed a rise of 27 percent and Kolkata grew 10 percent in net absorption of office space in the first half of the year.

Real estate on a comeback mode: CBRE report

Source: The Hindu  2.7.2016

Hyderabad's real estate is turning out to be a leading market in south India, according to the CBRE India's latest report. Titled, The Comeback of Hyderabad , the report projects the city as regaining prominence as one of the leading destinations for the real estate. The report lists out political stability, State Government's pro-active policies, growing occupier demand, improved infrastructure, quality educational institutions and the availability of a large talent pool as the reasons for bringing back attention to the city's real estate market.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and MD, CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd. Said: With the various investor-friendly policies initiated by the State Government, and the planned infrastructure development, Hyderabad will be a destination of choice for a number of corporates looking to expand or enter the south India market. The proposed infrastructure development planned for the city is creating a conducive environment and will spur further investment inflow into the city and the State. According to the report, the IT/ITeS boom several years ago, coupled with the development of HITEC city, has made Hyderabad the preferred location for technology firms to set up their operations. In 2008, office stock stood at 23 million sq. ft., and by 2015, this had doubled to approximately 47 million sq. ft. Total organised retail space in the city stood at 2.7 million sq. ft. as of June 2016, majority of which is concentrated in western and central Hyderabad. This is likely to go up by almost 4 million sq. ft. of additional supply in key markets over the next two years paving way for the entry of global retailers into the city.

Information and Communication Technology in Bangaru Telangana

Source: The Hans India 30.6.2016

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

ICT industry in Telangana State consists of Business Processing Organisations and Knowledge Processing Organizations, providing professional services across the globe. State’s ICT services is mainly oriented towards foreign markets and contributes largely to India’s IT exports. Over a period of time, Hyderabad has become a premier global destination for IT and ITeS industry of India, next only to Bengaluru. 
The IT industry in the State has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. There are 1,300 IT units employing about 3.7 lakh professionals in the State, with an annual export turnover of Rs. 68,258 crore in 2014-15. About 89 new units were established during 2014-15.

Table : Performance of IT Industry in 2014-15

S. No.	Description	Total
1	Total number IT units in the State	1300
2	New units registered during 2014-15	89
3	Total Employees engaged	3,71,774
4	Exports earnings from IT (in Rs. crore)	68,258

Source: Department of Information Technology, Electronics, and Communications, Government of Telangana.

The State Government has taken proactive initiatives to create state-of-the-art physical infrastructure for the growth of the Sector. However, in the wake of global economic slowdown, resulting in weak global demand for software exports, companies have adopted various methods  such as diversification of market base towards emerging and developing countries, product diversification and cost reduction etc.

Major Initiatives to boost ICT Sector: 

The State Government with an objective to provide a congenial environment to services producing companies to start and grow their business, has initiated policy initiatives in this direction, some of them are mentioned below: 

T-HUB: T-Hub was launched on November 5, 2015 as a unique public/private partnership between the Government of Telangana, three of India’s premier academic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB & NALSAR) and key private sector leaders. T-Hub aims to be the catalyst in building Hyderabad as a start-up city and Telangana, as a start-up State. 

T-Hub located in the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) campus, in Gachibowli, Hyderabad dedicated solely to entrepreneurship. An overwhelming number of startups registered to be a part of the T-Hub community. Extending to various fields like agri-tech, life sciences, financial technology, smart cities, IoT, clean technology etc, the startup community in Hyderabad has shown their interest in being a part of T-Hub. Within a short span of time, over 900 applications were received by the T-Hub team from startups across the country. T-Hub aims to become the largest innovation ecosystems in the country and eventually globally. The project aims to build upon Hyderabad's natural strengths in IT & entrepreneurship and intends to nurture a vibrant innovation ecosystem by providing all the requisite support to unleash the latent entrepreneurial spirit amongst the new-age youth, thereby driving job growth and wealth creation.

Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) at Hyderabad: 

Government of India has cleared Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR), Hyderabad. As per the Draft Project Report (DPR), ITIR would export IT products worth Rs. 2,35,000 crore with additional direct employment to 15 lakh people and indirect employment to 53 lakh people. This is expected to generate about Rs. 30,170 crore additional tax revenues to the State Government. 

IMAGE Incubation Centre: 

Gaming and animation sector has a potential of over US $42 Billion worldwide and about $ 1 Billion in India. Hyderabad region has been identified as one of the potential places for the growth of gaming and animation industry due to the presence of a vibrant industry and talented IT professional workforce. Hyderabad has a number of Gaming & Animation companies working at present and the region has potential to grow if right kind of infrastructure is made available. Keeping in view the potential of this sector, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), in association with the State Government developed a state of the art incubation facility “IMAGE” at STPI complex, Hyderabad. This incubation facility is specially designed to support the SMEs working in gaming, animation, multi-media and entertainment industry.

Promotion of Tier-II/ III IT Locations: 

Warangal town has been identified as Tier-II IT hub with suitable infrastructure facilities to IT companies to start their operations through TSIIC. 

New Policy framework for ICT, Animation & Gaming and Electronic Hardware: 

New policy framework for ICT, Animation & Gaming and Electronic hardware is being prepared by the State Government and expected to be announced shortly.  

Telangana Academy for Skill & Knowledge (TASK): 

Telangana Academy for Skill & Knowledge (TASK) is non-profit organizations created by Government of Telangana for bringing synergy among institutions of government, industry and academia with an objective of offering quality human resources and services to the industry and enhance the employability quotient of youth in the State. 

Many new course models are being offered by reputed educational institutions under the TASK programme for enhancing the skills of students to meet the requirements of the industry.

G.Rajendera Kumar