Google's plans proves Hyderabad's potential: IT minister

The decision of Google to set up its biggest facility outside US proves the strength and potential of Hyderabad, Telangana Information Technology Minister K. Tarakarama Rao said on Thursday.

A day after Google's CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company will be setting up a huge campus in Hyderabad, the minister hailed the decision, and said Google and Telangana government have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the campus.

The MoU was signed in May this year during the minister's visit to the US. The state government has allotted 7.2 acres of land for the campus in Gachibowli, an IT corridor for the proposed campus, spread over two million square feet, and to be Google's largest facility outside the US.

Google's global head (facilities and workplaces) David Radcliffe has already stated that the work will start next year and the facility could be up and running in 2019.

The IT minister also hailed the Pichai's statement to double the headcount in Hyderabad.

"Google already has 6,500 employees here and we are happy that they want to double it," he said.

The minister said Hyderabad was attracting many MNCs. "Facebook already has its India headquarters here. Amazon is building its office over 25 lakh square feet, which will be its biggest campus outside US. Uber has also announced that they will have their biggest office outside US in Hyderabad," he said.

The minister on Thursday inaugurated a new office complex of Novartis in Hyderabad. This is Novartis Group's largest global service centre in the world.

Rao said the government through better policies would try to attract huge investments to Hyderabad in coming days. He announced that four more IT parks would be developed in and around Hyderbad. The details will be announced later.

The minister was talking to reporters at an event organized by Facebook for women entrepreneurs at T-Hub, an incubation facility opened by Telangana government last month.

As many as 200 women entrepreneurs attended the meeting, where they were given useful tips on how they can grow their business through Facebook.