Telangana eyes Tier II cities for next leg of IT expansion

The creation of IT hubs in smaller cities and towns is not only generating employment opportunities in the local educated youth there, but also decentralizing growth and decongesting large metros like Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s booming IT (information technology) sector has made a major contribution in putting Telangana on the world map. Thanks to its capital city, Telangana has managed IT exports worth a whopping Rs 1.28 lakh crore in 2019-20, doubling it from what they were in 2013-14, the year the state was formed.

But Telangana seems to have even bigger plans. As part of the new IT policy formulated in 2015, the state has now turned its focus towards Tier-II cities and smaller towns for the next leg of IT expansion.

This week, Telangana’s IT and industries minister KT Rama Rao inaugurated a newly-constructed IT Tower in Karimnagar, the fifth largest city in the state. This is the second town to have launched its own IT tower after Warangal, with three more such projects currently in the works in Khammam, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad.

Built at a cost of Rs 34 crore, the Karimnagar IT Tower can accommodate around 3,000 employees.

With the creation of these IT hubs, the state government is not only generating employment opportunities in tier-II cities for the educated youth, but also decentralizing growth and decongesting large metros like Hyderabad.

Tapping mid-sized companies and NRIs

Notably, these IT towers mostly house US-based mid-scale and small IT firms, though big names like Tech Mahindra and Cyient are also operating at Warangal’s Madikonda IT Park. Not just companies, skill development centres are also running at these towers which provide education and training to youngsters to help them meet the standard requirements of these US firms.

Speaking to Etv Bharat on Thursday, Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary of IT department of the Telangana government, said: “We didn’t wait for big names like Infosys, TCS or HCL to kick-start our Tier II towers. We adopted an innovative approach and started with mid-scale firms… and plan to expand by reaching out to more mid-scale companies."

Ranjan added that most of these firms are run by IT professionals who are working in the US but are natives of Telangana and want to give back something to their ‘motherland’. Although that’s not the only reason. “Consider any employee who works at Karimnagar… if the IT company would have hired the same kind of talent in the US, it would have been paying nearly 10 times (all kinds of cost put together),” said Ranjan.

So, by choosing Tier II cities, mid-scale IT firms are managing to save immensely on human resources, infrastructure and real estate, without diluting the quality of their operations, Ranjan added.

Students and job aspirants are happy, too, since they can now work for the companies they want, without moving out of their home cities and migrating to metros like Hyderabad or Bangalore. On the day of the launch of the Karimnagar tower, a job aspirant said: “Cost of living, pollution and traffic... there are so many problems in big cities. I can save my time also if I work here.”

The move is also seen as a boon for women employees in the IT sector, who often face restriction from parents for shifting to big cities alone due to the safety factor.

“This IT hub is mainly for girls who leave their homes and are staying in hostels, risking their lives. We’re are very thankful to the Telangana government for this centre and are also hoping excellent growth for IT in coming future,” said a job aspirant.

Key challenges remain

Though the formula looks like a win-win situation for all, certain challenges starting to surface. For instance, recruiters have observed that the job aspirants are sometimes seen lacking soft skills like communication, working in a team etc.

An IT firm working from the Karimnagar tower said: “We as a start-up want to work with the local talent… we have observed that they have the talent but lack communication skills. Our company will train them.”

Speaking on this issue, Ranjan said: “The Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK), which trains college students in soft skills, is aware of this feedback. Unlike in the past, we have decided that the soft skills training should start much earlier, if not first year on wards, definitely second year onwards. “

The IT Tower also houses the Regional Centre of TASK.

Also, creating large IT towers in Tier II cities need to be backed by development of other basic infrastructure like housing, transport, commercial centres, etc, the lack of which may limit the success of the larger idea.

KT Rama Rao, for instance, besides inaugurating the Karimnagar IT Tower on Tuesday, also inaugurated a daily water supply scheme taken up at a cost of Rs 110 crore. Perhaps he realises that a lot still needs to be done.

(ETV Bharat Report)