Apple plans a tech development centre in Hyderabad

Source: tech.economictimes

Apple is in talks with real estate firm Tishman Speyer for long term lease of around 2.5 lakh square feet of office space which could accommodate around 2,500 employees


After applying for single-brand retail licence in India, Apple is now looking at setting up its first large technology development centre and back-office operations in Hyderabad. 

The US-based company is in talks with real estate firm Tishman Speyer for long term lease of around 2.5 lakh square feet of office space on the city outskirts, which could accommodate around 2,500 employees, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter said. 

"Apple has evinced interest to lease the space at Tishman Speyer's WaveRock facility for ten years to begin with, involving a total expenditure of around Rs 150 crore," said a property consultant privy to the development. 

"Apple may at a later date consider asking the Telangana government to allot space for it to build its own campus," the consultant added. 

"Too early to comment," said Telangana's IT & Panchayat Raj Minister K Taraka Rama Rao. Emails to Apple, which opened Europe's first iOS App Development Centre in Italy, were unanswered. 

India has of late emerged a crucial market for the world's largest tech firm by market cap, which saw its sales crossing the $1 billion (Rs 6,800 crore) mark in India for the first time last fiscal year. 

The move by the iconic maker of iPhones to set up its technology development centre in India assumes significance at a time when the Indian market is at an inflexion point for Apple's product offering, which includes smartphones, laptops, smart watches and music players. 

A senior Telangana bureaucrat confirmed the interest of Apple to locate its IT operations in Hyderabad, but downplayed the matter saying the talks were at an early stage. "Representatives of Apple have met the officials of the industry and commerce ministry recently, evincing interest to lease nearly 2.5 lakh square feet of office space in the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation promoted IT ITes SEZ with Tishman Speyer," the bureaucrat told ET, requesting anonymity given the sensitivities involved. 

Sources at the development commissioner for the SEZ also confirmed the talks with Apple. "The Apple team made a presentation on January 12 on their proposed investment plans. They are slated to meet the SEZ officials during the second week of February to take the matter forward," said a person in know of the development. 

"Tishman Speyer's WaveRock IT-ITeS special economic zone, which is located near the financial district in Hyderabad's' Gachibouli, has a built-up area of around 25 lakh square feet and can accommodate over 20,000 professionals in all," said the property consultant. 

Tishman Speyer has around 65 lakh square feet of office facility in Hyderabad. Pointing out to the millions of jobs that Apple's ecosystem created across the globe, the Telangana bureaucrat said: "We hope the entry of Apple into Hyderabad would help attract dozens of technology companies into the ecosystem, creating thousands of jobs and sizeable investments."

NOW GET INTO A CHOPPER AND ENJOY HYDERABAD'S AERIAL VIEW

Source: Sakshipost

Hyderabad: After the joyous ride of hot air balloons in December, Hyderabadis will now be able to enjoy helicopter rides to have a bird's eye view of the historic city. The ride which will be formally launched on Tuesday. Minister for IT, Municipal Administration and Panchayat Raj K T Rama Rao will inaugurate the chopper rides at 10 AM at Necklace Road.

Hyderabad Aerial trip is an initiative by ‘Heli Tourism in Hyderabad’ in collaboration with Indwell Aviation Private Limited. The 10-15 minutes joy ride will cost Rs 3,500 per person. If this initiative receives a good response, the government is planning to start similar services in various places like Nagarjuna Sagar, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nallamalla forest and along Godavari river.

Want a US visa? Head to Hyderabad's Chilkur Balaji temple to make it happen!

Source: Zee news India 

Amazing! The famed Chilkur Balaji temple in Hyderabad can help fulfill all your wishes, including granting of US and other visas, devotees claim.

According to a media report, scores of devotees, planning to visit the US, make it a point to visit this ancient temple to help grant American visas.

The Chilkur Balaji temple, built as a shrine to Lord Balaji, is said to be about 500 years old.

A wish-making ceremony at the shrine involves making 11 laps around the temple. Worshippers offer their passports and make offerings of coconuts.

If the wish comes true, they must return and make a further 108 laps.

The temple has gained a reputation for helping to get overseas visas smoothly -- so much so that it's now known as the "visa temple," CNN reported.

The trend began decades ago, mostly among students heading to the US. They would make the rounds and seemingly get luckier with visa lotteries.

"My own sister is in Belgium, in Brussels right now, so yes, it does work," CNN quoted Manjunath Singh as saying.

Over the years the temple's reputation has grown by word of mouth.

I Will Turn Hyderabad Into a Global City: KCR

Source: The New India Express

HYDERABAD:  “A road map has been prepared for the development of Hyderabad as an international city and we will make it happen,” Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has assured the people of Hyderabad.

In an initiative to make sure that his campaigning will not cause inconvenience to people, KCR started e-campaign, addressing people through the media, and appealed to the people to give TRS an opportunity to turn Hyderabad into an international city.

KCR said it needs anywhere near Rs 30,000 crore to equip Hyderabad with infrastructure to meet global standards. However, the GHMC budget is just around Rs 5,000 crore.

“For that I have approached the BRICS Bank during my recent visit to Shanghai in China. I told BRICS Bank chairman KV Kamath about my plans to develop skyways, multi-level flyovers, roads and junction improvements and others and he assured a loan of Rs 25,000 crore to us. The GHMC cannot stand as a guarantee for such a huge amount and to address this, the government will stand as a guarantee,” KCR said.

KCR said his confidence was making him make such a big promise. “I promised to achieve Telangana. I vowed not to seek votes if my government cannot provide drinking water to each household. With the same confidence, I am saying that I will turn Hyderabad into a global city. It may take five or six years for that to happen,” he said.

Apart from loan from BRICS Bank, KCR said the GHMC can get revenue from other sources like regularisation of lands through LRS and BPS, and sale of unused government lands.

The chief minister said that HMDA was coming out with a master plan along with tourism projects for the development of Hyderabad.

Reacting to the confusion over shifting of the state secretariat and the Osmania General Hospital, he said, “Hundred percent, the state secretariat will be shifted. Same with OGH.

Towers will be constructed on the backside of the existing OGH. I will lay the foundation stone for both the works after GHMC elections.”

Point of view

UoH Crisis

It is an unfortunate incident. We will take all necessary steps to bring the culprits to book.

New Districts

At least four new districts will be carved out of the existing Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. New districts like Ibrahimpatnam and Medchal will be formed.

Amaravati

They have failed to get funds even for Amaravati. What will they do for Hyderabad? I went to Amaravati for the foundation-laying. I thought Prime Minister Narendra Modi would announce a package but he brought two earthen pots, one of water and the other of soil. I actually planned to announce some assistance on behalf of Telangana government but with Modi himself not giving any assistance, I refrained from announcing any amount as it would not look nice.

Development Road Map

■ Musi river and Hussainsagar lake will be restored and rejuvenated with the help of Austrian technology

■ Nearly 200 vegetable and mutton markets will be constructed

■ 150 to 200 public toilets will be built

■ More burial grounds and crematoriums to be built in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts of the state

■ Four new dumping yards with power generation facility to be set up

■ A plant to recycle construction debris will come up on the lines of the one in Delhi

■ Night shelters for those who come to the city on work or to hospitals. Now they are forced to sleep on pavements and at railway stations

■  Modern bus bays will be earmarked

■ Two new bus terminals abutting ORR. Two new railway junctions on the outskirts including one at Cherlapally

■ Talks with GMR to construct a second runway at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad

■ Island model power supply as in Mumbai

■ Two new water reservoirs, each of 20 tmc capacity to be built

■ Race course to be shifted from Malakpet and Chanchalguda prison to Cherlapally

Will Hyderabad overtake Bengaluru as India’s foremost startup hub?

Source: yourstory.com

Bengaluru may have hogged the startup spotlight in recent years, but Hyderabad has been working towards building one of the strongest foundations for a powerful startup ecosystem and hub in India. In fact, there was a time when it was believed that Hyderabad would give Bengaluru a tough competition.

At the peak of its IT revolution, Hyderabad was home to biggies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. A common anecdote of the time was how then Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, managed a meeting Bill Gates and convinced him to start Microsoft’s Research Centre out of Hyderabad. However, political issues like the Telangana movement put a halt to Hyderabad’s march towards becoming the predominant startup hub.

A group of government officials, investors, incubators and startups in Hyderabad are now attempting to make up for lost time. The results are already visible.  Global e-commerce major Amazon chose the city as the home for its largest warehouse, which is capable of storing about two million products. Uber too is setting up a state-of-the art facility in Hyderabad, which will eventually be its largest international office.

Young and upcoming startups are also getting a boost.  YourStory currently tracks 1,800 startups in Hyderabad.

Image created by Aditya Ranade

Funding galore

Before we get into the different ingredients, that make a truly powerful Hyderabadi startup biryani, here is a sneak peek into the funding details in the city:

Image created by Aditya Ranade

Funding trend in the past five years in Hyderabad:

Image created by Aditya Ranade

The Hyderabad Startups

Apart from mobile-app-focussed startups like CanvasFlip, AppVirality and Zify, the health and wellness sector appears to be dominating the scene in terms of funding with the likes of ManageMySpa, Zapluk, MapMyGenome, Truweight and Healthians getting investments. Others include Pricejugaad and MySmartPrice.

Image Created by Aditya Ranade

In September last year, a NASSCOM report showed that close to eight percent of the startup activity in India is happening in Hyderabad. Sanjay Enishetty, 50K ventures, says that by 2018, the Hyderabad Startup Ecosystem will possibly be bigger than the Bengaluru Startup Ecosystem.

Speaking of the quality and kind of startups that are seen in Hyderabad, Sateesh says that like most startups across India, those in Hyderabad are also jumping on the hyperlocal and e-commerce bandwagon.

However, over the past few years, the kind of startups that have grown in Hyderabad are in the enterprise software, commerce, and healthcare sectors.

The entrepreneurs themselves

Along with the growing number of entrepreneurs and people starting up, the quality of people starting up is also improving. Ramesh says that the quality of entrepreneurship in the city has seen a significant improvement in the past year.

“In Hyderabad, there is this strong trend of people with solid corporate experience quitting their jobs and starting up. This in itself helps improve the quality of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurs have an understanding of the different elements and aspects of a business. They aren’t necessarily knowledgeable on everything, but they understand that there are different aspects,” says Tom Thomas, COO, CIE Hyderabad.

However, those who have seen Hyderabad grow as a startup hub say that quality of entrepreneurs has always been high. “You look at the top names in the healthcare and pharmaceutical world. The entrepreneurs are from Hyderabad. People from Hyderabad have always been great at entrepreneurship and setting up businesses,” says Sateesh Andra, Managing Director, Endiya Partners.

So what are the key ingredients that make Hyderabad a great startup ecosystem?

I. The infrastructure

For any startup to thrive, apart from the product, you need the right team and infrastructure in place. And Hyderabad has ensured that the city has a strong infrastructural base. In fact, the infrastructural foundation of the city was laid in the early 2000s.

“Hyderabad today can be considered amongst the cheapest metros in the country. The seeds of a strong infrastructural base were sown early on, and now we are just adding to it,” says Ramesh Loganathan, VP Products and Centre head, Progress Software, and one of the city’s most sought-after mentors and advisors.

1. Building an incubation ecosystem – T-Hub

There possibly has not been a better time for startups in India, with the Startup India initiative and more recent announcement. But with Hyderabad specifically, there has been a surge in government support. Recently, the youngest state in the country, Telangana made headlines with the announcement of its largest incubation centre in India – T-Hub.

It is believed to be one of the most powerful and ambitious projects that has been taken up by the government. K T Rama Rao, who was an IT professional for six years and is now the IT Minister of Telangana, has said that the T-Hub is not for Telangana techies alone, but is also meant to attract talent from across the country.

The Telangana government is also in the process of setting up two more incubation centres in the gaming and animation and aerospace sectors soon Located in the IIIT campus, T-Hub is called ‘the incubator of incubators’ by mentors and incubator heads in Hyderabad.

Explaining this, Ajit Raj of T-Hub says that the aim of the incubation centre is to create a complete ecosystem for startups. “The main idea here is to build a support system that is so strong that startups don’t find it difficult to get advice, mentorship, funding and infrastructure. For that, we not only have our own incubation centre, but also have tie ups with the likes of NASSCOM, CIE and others to help incubate their startups as well,” adds Ajit.

Ratan Tata, when he inaugurated the T-Hub, said, “Walking around the T-Hub building made me realise that we are entering into a new phase of entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise in India. It is enterprise that is non-traditional and focussed on innovation of the mind. This was what elevated the US in the 80s into a new world of technology and hi-tech. It changed the way we lived. A facility like T-Hub gives you a sneak-peek into the new India of tomorrow.”

Aditya Vuchi, Founder, Zippr, a Hyderabad-based tech startup, says it has never been easier to start up in Telangana. He is hoping for a collaboration between Central and State departments.

The T-Hub, on Monday, also announced its incubation programme LAB/32. In this programme a few handpicked startups will not only be able to access top mentors in the industry but also will be given the opportunity to pitch to VCs and angel investors across the globe. Some of the mentors include Gautham Seshadri of Aarin Capital and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Networks.

2. The academic incubation centres

“When I was working at the CIE there were close to 11 startups in the centre, and close to a year later, when I was leaving CIE, there were close of 70 startups in the incubation centre,” says Manoj Surya, Founder of Zenty. Apart from CIE in IIIT, the other incubation centres are at ISB and BITS Pilani.

Praveen Dorna, Co-Founder Startup Byte and the Head Incubation manager at CIE says that the kind of entrepreneurs at CIE aren’t very different from entrepreneurs elsewhere, but the idea is that the incubation centre provides a solid base for founders who are looking to build great products and need support of infrastructure, mentors and advisors.

3. Co-working spaces

Raghuveer Kovuru, Startup Coach and Community Animator at Co.Lab.Orate says that while startup activity in Hyderabad cannot be compared to Bengaluru, the city is nevertheless working slowly and steadily to become a strong ecosystem base.

“The idea of a co-working space is to build community and help startups spend less on office spaces. They focus on building the product and talent base,” says Raghuveer. He adds that there is more collaboration and networking in a co-working space.

In most co-working spaces, there are events and talks on funding, growth, and key advice that any first-time entrepreneur would seek.

II. People

Startups and startup ecosystems are defined by the kind of people who form the startups or the ecosystem. In Hyderabad, with government support and infrastructural elements in place, it is now up to the entrepreneurs to build and develop this ecosystem.

1. Availability of talent

The growing number of top education institutes in the city not only ensures great incubation centres, but also that startups get the much-needed tech talent and people. Ramesh says that after Bengaluru, Hyderabad possibly has the most thriving talent pool across different sectors. The city has seen growth and development across different verticals, ensuring that the talent has grown to an exponential level in the city.

2. An interlinked network

Looking at the growing number of entrepreneurs and startups in Hyderabad, key advisors, mentors, incubator heads and investors decided to get together and help entrepreneurs in the city. The idea was simple; it was focussed on helping the startups leverage the experience and understanding of mentors and investors.

Today, Hyderabad is among the most accessible and connected ecosystems in the country.“Everyone is open to talk to and the kind of advice one gets is very open and constructive. This is because, everyone wants the ecosystem to grow and thrive,” adds Manoj.

Sanjay says that when 50k Ventures first started in 2007-08, there weren’t many people to look up to or turn towards for advice. But today, he says that the ecosystem is working as one strong unit helping everyone grow and thrive in their own way.

Stitching the loose ends

While there are different ingredients in place, the Hyderabad startup ecosystem still needs to see the kind of funding that Bengaluru sees. While interconnected and with decent infrastructure in place, the city lost a good part of a year in political conflicts.

Even if there is decent technical skill and talent in the city, startups in Hyderabad will need to compete with Bengaluru-based startups that have deeper pockets. “We have different ingredients in place, we now need to start attracting people from different cities,” adds Tom.

While it might seem that every metro in the country is aiming to be a startup hub, Hyderabad is truly working on different aspects to achieve that end goal. “Everyone talks about the infrastructure, talent and growth opportunity, but it is about using the different elements and truly building a powerful startup ecosystem, and Hyderabad is working tirelessly as one unit towards that end,” says Ramesh.

Girls in Tech Launches In India; Headquartered in Hyderabad

Source: Girls in Tech

Girls in Tech (GIT) a global non-profit organization focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of women in technology and entrepreneurship launched its India Chapter in Hyderabad.

Founded in 2007, Girls in Tech was born out of the need to provide a platform for women to cultivate ideas, learn new skills, and advance their careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. GIT is headquartered in San Francisco, CA (Silicon Valley).

The vision of Girls in Tech India is to support and raise the visibility of women in STEM, entrepreneurship and innovation. Women and girls who join GIT, and who attend GIT events will find a warm supporting network of like-minded colleagues and friends sharing similar interests.

In his remarks as Chief Guest, Consul General Michael Mullins commented, “Science and technology partnerships that the United States forms with other countries addresses critical issues that concerns the whole world. Cooperation in science and technology can foster a global environment where invention, innovation, and industry can thrive. Science and technology cooperation strengthens our international relationships because these disciplines are based on values that transcend politics, languages, borders, and cultures.”

GIT has hosted and facilitated workshops, seminars, exchange programs and hackathons all over the world to bolster women and girls’ interest in and enthusiasm for STEM, entrepreneurship and innovation. GIT’s newly launched Girls in Tech India has exciting plans for upcoming programs to build a STEM-minded community here in Hyderabad, and more broadly across India.

Hyderabad sees 67% increase in housing sales: JLL India

Source: Business Standard

Growth was on the back of improved economic activity seen during the past six months that led to a better market sentiment

Hyderabad saw a 67% increase in residential unit sales during 4Q14-3Q15 compared with the same period a year ago. The number of units sold stood at 7,000 during the period as against 4,200 last year.

The growth was on the back of improved economic activity seen during the past six months that led to a better market sentiment. Corporate houses were also coming in as the political environment has improved with the formation of Telangana, said real estate research firm JLL in its report on Monday.

As the government goes all out to bring investments, heightened economic activity can be expected to further bolster the residential realty market.

In the last three quarters alone, launches picked up increasing by more than 1.5 times since last year. Capital values also witnessed a significant rise of 5-10%, year-on-year, after many years of seeing sub-5% rate of appreciation. JLL stated the city was likely to witness further price rise going forward.

Western sub-market

As of 3Q15, the western sub-market has already gone past the previous highs of 2008 in terms of launches. Being the key IT hub with Hitec City and Gachibowli as its main precincts, the area has seen over 85% new launches in the past three quarters of 2015.

Meanwhile, the upcoming metro rail will boost the East-West corridor. As the existing commercial hubs of Hitec City and Gachibowli get saturated, the eastern sub-market - with its comparatively lower rates - will provide for a new alternative and spur growth in an otherwise-dormant side of the city's real estate market, it stated.

Proposed satellite townships along the outer ring road (ORR) and the Tellapur integrated township project will have a long-term impact, it said.