Telangana govt gives big push to entrepreneurship

The Telangana government today signed agreements with three prestigious city-based institutions to develop an incubation centre that aims to boost entrepreneurship in the capital.
Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in this regard were signed with IIIT, Hyderabad, Indian School of Business (ISB) and National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Nalsar).
Speaking on the occasion, IT Minister K T Rama Rao said the incubation centre would be a top-class facility, not just for Telangana but also the entire world.
The first phase of the centre would start in about six months from an 80,000 sq ft facility in the IIIT campus. It would be home to 700 to 800 start-up companies, said Rao, the son of Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The unit would move to a standalone location in another two years. It would be housed in a 3 lakh sqft building and aims to incubate about 1,500 start-ups.
The government is also setting up Telangana Academy of Skill and Knowledge (TASK) which aims to make students ready to take up jobs in foreign countries.

Rama Rao said the existing electronic manufacturing clusters would be put to good use. A UK-based company, though small in size, is going to start its office in the city.
The state government wants to make Hyderabad a top- notch destination for IT and is taking several initiatives in that regard, the Minister said.

Asked about plans to make Hyderabad a Wi-Fi city, he said private companies have taken their own initiatives about the wireless networking technology, while the government plans to invite expression of interest by the month-end.
To a question on IT Investment Region (ITIR) to be set up in Hyderabad, Rama Rao said he would meet the Union IT Minister on September 15 to get a perspective on the Centre's plans. The Centre had decided to set up ITIR here.
IT industry's apex body Nasscom has estimated that ITIR would attract an investment of over Rs 2 lakh crore in a span of 15-20 years, he said. "ITIR phase one would be completed in the next five years."

Rama Rao said the companies who already have a presence in Hyderabad are expanding. IT giant TCS would launch a facility here providing about 25,000 jobs.
Other companies like HSBC, Amazon and Google are also expanding operations in the capital city, he said.