Gachibowli, Hyderabad: IT developments a great attraction

The Gachibowli submarket comprises Gachibowli, Nanakramguda, Manikonda, Raidurg and surrounding locations. It is the next popular IT/ ITeS (information technology enabled services) destination of Hyderabad after Hitec City.

Gachibowli is six km from Hitec City and mostly houses IT campus developments and IT special economic zone (SEZ) developments. The IT-related developments in Gachibowli began with CMC setting up its campus in the late 1990s and Microsoft opening its first campus in India in the early part of the previous decade. The IT-related developments increased their footprint in this submarket further as Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corp allotted land to financial companies at the financial district of Nanakramguda, which was planned to attract banking and finance companies to Hyderabad.

Companies such as ICICI, Franklin Templeton, UBS (now Cognizant), Institute of Chartered Accountants, Andhra Bank, Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corp and APIDC Venture Capital are present in the financial district. As the connectivity of Gachibowli started improving, the submarket witnessed IT campus and IT SEZ developments, followed by residential and hotel development.

The IT developments in Gachibowli have attracted various national and local developers to develop their residential projects in this submarket. Larsen and Toubro, Mantri Developers, Emaar MGF, Ramky Group, Phoenix Group, NCC, Jayabheri Group and Trendset Builders have launched residential projects in Gachibowli. Such projects have also been launched within SEZs such as Lanco Hills and Divyasree Orion.

Retail in Gachibowli is currently restricted to high streets. Retailers such as Reliance, Ratnadeep, Cafe Coffee Day, Subway, Pizza Corner have opened their stores on the Old Mumbai Highway. Inorbit Mall at Hitec City is six km from the submarket. Lanco's Mega Mall within the Lanco Hills SEZ is launched and is expected to be completed in three years.

While Hyderabad city was struggling to see any increase in residential sales due to political instability in 2010, a few projects such as Mantri Celestia, Ramky Towers and NCC Residency in Gachibowli continued to witness decent sales due to the location and optimal pricing. Currently, residential prices are on the rise in this submarket and there are new projects being proposed at locations closer to Gachibowli such as Gopanpally, Tellapur and Nallagantla, etc.

The writer is AVP , research and REIS, Jones Lang LaSalle India